me. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now. good morning. wild, wild west. a wdf good morning. wild, wild west. the wildfire in colorado destroys dozens of homes and forces thousands of residents to flee. while in texas, tropical storm hermine rolls ashore bringing heavy rain and strong winds. > democrats in danger. the democratic party could be in real trouble with the mid-term elections exactly eight weeks away. and johan speaks. johan van der sloot speaks.

his thoughts about natalie and peru this tuesday september 8th. welcome to "today" on this tuesday morning. i'm meredith viera. >> i wa t and welcome today on this tuesday morning. i'm meredith vieira. >> wanted to make sure you're real. how was your vacation? >> it was lovely. >> we missed you. >> i missed you -- too. >> no, that wasn't nice. no, no, no. that's it. the good times are over. anyway, welcome back. we're welcoming you back with unfortunate news. a wildfire out west. tropical storm in texas. we'll get the latest on both stories in just a couple of minute. >> is anti-muslim sentiment on the rise? you've heard about the ongoing protests about the mosque near ground zero. now one florida church is planning to burn copies of the koran on this holiday weekend. and david petraeus said the

church's actions could put u.s. troops at risk. >> did you see this video while you were away? a college football player riding on a moped, head-on into a pickup truck. the guy gets up and is essentially okay. we'll talk to him. >> we're launching a new series where we go back to our first jobs and see if we can still handle them. matt's up first. his first job was delivering the news to america. back then it was one newspaper at a time. >> see behind the back. >> you're good. >> let's begin with the woild weather out west. wildfires in colorado. down south, a tropical storm. miguel almiguer has the latest on the wildfire. >> howie: the sun came up in

boulder a short time ago. firefighters are beginning to reassess the situation on the ground and see how quickly that spread overnight. it charred 3,500 acres. it destroyed dozens of structures and homes. four homes that went down actually belonged to firefighters. that number will continue to change throughout the day. the four-mile fire canyon began yesterday afternoon and forced the evacuation of roughly 3,500 residents. this is a dangerous fire. it's a wind-driven fire being attacked by roughly 200 firefighters. it's the rugged terrain and thick vegetation that has crews struggling for any containment. hotshot crews are trying to find breaks while other crews protect homes. the fire is burning in every direction up in the foothills, six to seven miles from where we stand in downtown boulder. crews called this fire extremely

complex. not just because of the rugged terrain but because it's so difficult to actually reach this this fire. in fact, crews fear that million dollar homes may be in jeopardy. both state and federal help has been requested. still no cause of the fire. it's burned some 5.5 square miles of land. back to you. >> all right, miguel. thanks very much. meanwhile in texas, the problem isn't fire. it's a lot of rain. tropical storm hermine blew into the lone star state overnight. al is tracking this storm for us. >> we've got a few more out in the atlantic we're tracking. let's get to hermine. st still a tropical storm, 50 miles west of corpus christi, 35-mile-per-hour winds moving north-northwest. tornado watches from corpus christi to galveston until 1:00 this afternoon. this will move quickly from

texas to oklahoma in the next 24 to 48 hours. staying a tropical storm. later on today, it becomes a low pressure area, a depression. it is bringing a lot of rain. rainfall amounts, generally between san antonio and abilene, 10 to 12 inches of rain in the next three days. generally, anywhere from 3 to 5 inches. that will cause a lot of flooding. let's go back to meredith. >> al, thank you very much. we'll get your national forecast in just a moment. now to decision 2011. election day exactly eight weeks away. according to the latest poll, democrats could be in very big trouble. chuck todd has more on president obama's efforts to limit the damage. chuck, good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. in the world of politics, labor day signals the official start of the fall campaign. the president began his effort in wisconsin, trying to stop what our brand-new nbc/"wall street journal" poll appears to trying to stop what our

brand-new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll appears to show which is a republican tidal wave. >> reporter: in a labor day speech in wisconsin, president obama tried to sound an optimistic tone about the economy. >> i'm going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the american dream. >> reporter: but according to the new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, the americans are far from optimistic. 56% approve of the handling of the economy. the news keeps getting worse. 65% described the country as being in a state of decline. 61% believe the country is headed in the wrong direction almost half disapprove of the overall job the president is doing. the white house billed the last three months as "recovery summer" complete with a big series of events led by vice

president biden. >> so the recovery act is working. but it's going to continue to work. it's not over. a lot's going to happen this summer. >> reporter: a lot did happen this summer. but the news was bad both for the economy and democrats. and now some vulnerable house democrats like indiana's joe donnelly are distancing themselves from the president. >> that may not be what the washington crowd wants, i don't work for them. i work for you. >> reporter: for democrats, the reality is setting in that this election may end up being survival of the fitness. and for the weakest incumbents money and campaign resources will not be on the way but for the president on the campaign trail it continues to attack for bush era policies. >> these guys, they just don't want to give up on that economic philosophy that they've been peddling for most of the last decade. what it really boils down to you were on your own. >> reporter: yet, our poll shows that message is not resonating. a large majority, 58%, believe that if republicans get control of congress, they'll have different ideas from the

unpopular policies of president bush. this public pessimism seems to be having a personal effect on the president as he admitted in an unscripted moment. >> some powerful people until white house and they're not always happy with me. they talk about me like a dog. >> you know, this pessimism about america's future isn't about just the new few year, get this, meredith, 66% do not feel confident that our children will be better off than we are. as you know, meredith, that question, we ask it all the time, normally, americans have been optimistic. not optimistic right now. >> the president certainly seemed to be on fire in milwaukee. sounded like somebody ready for a midterm election fight. by an approval like that in the poll, is he more of a liability than an asset? >> well, some democrats are treating him as a liability. however, if you have decided that everybody who is already

against eye can nature be persuaded, then the only way to survive if you're a democrat is to somehow find more democrats that come out. well, when you look at our poll, the folks that tell us they're not likely to vote, they actually approve of the president's job, which 75% approval rating. these are minorities and young voters. to quote obama surge voters right now, right now, they have no interest in this election. >> how do you get theft trm interested? >> that's what the president is trying to do. here's what's out. turnout goes up, people get enthusiasm about voting when they're not happy. this small slice, 10% of the electorate, is actually fairly happy. they're happy with the president, they're happy with democrats. so they don't see a reason to get off their keisters and go out and vote right now. maybe that will change but i'll be honest, our pollsteres tell us it's unlikely. >> let's take a look at voters

want to control congress. 43% of all respondent would like to see republicans gain control. the gop has a nine-point advantage so what could that mean come november? >> well, look, let's transfer that into actual house seats a nine-point advantage on election day. democrats won the house vote in 2008 by 11 points and they control some 60% of seats. over 250 house seats. so if the republicans got something like 54, 55% of the house vote which is what a nine-point advantage would be, then we are looking at anywhere from 50, 5-0, to 60 house seats which would be historic. and frankly, all of the signs here on labor day 2010 actually show republicans to be in a better position than democrats were in 2006 when they took control of congress. or when republicans took control in 1994, meredith. >> and if you look at the poll,

the current poll shows that 61% of the nation believes that the country is headed in the wrong direction. that is a greater percentage than either '94 or 2006. >> it is. and what it's setting up, democrats, basically, you heard the whole triage strategy, basically, any weak incumbent, they're tossing aside. they have to try and save the senate. the white house seems more focused on trying to see that they can prevent republicans from taking over the senate. they haven't written off the house yet. but the numbers look like they might have no choice. they might be able to prevent republicans from picking up ten seats. that's why you saw him in wisconsin, he's going to ohio on wednesday. a republican senate seat that democrats are trying to pick up. and he's going to spend a lot of time trying to save barbara boxer in california and patty murray in washington state. >> thanks very much. here's matt. as chuck just reported one issue will dominate the election this year, and that is, job, where are they.

maria bartolome has written a new book. good to see you. every single day do you get any question more often than where are the jobs? >> no, that is the single most important question right now. i think when you look at the last employment report for the month of august, we did clearly see some growth in manufacturing jobs. different manufacturing like solar panels. >> a little bit of a discouraging report on "the new york times" on the front page. a lot of people have placed their hopes in the tech sector to do the hiring to spark the recovery. now, they're not so sure that sector is doing the hiring? >> well, it's true. there are a lot of sectors that you would expect to see job creation like technology and health care are actually not seeing enough job creation to compensate for the 8 million jobs lost. that's because business managers are uncertain. they're worried about higher health care expenses in 2011, higher taxes.

as a result, they're not going to stick their necks out and put new heads on the payroll knowing that each new head carries an expense. >> how might the midterm election impact us? >> it's probably the single most important catalyst for the stock market right now. the perspective right now in 2011, if we were to see republicans gain control of the house would probably be a positive for the stock market. that could create a rally. and believe it or not, rallies like that make people feel richer, they get a better perception out there and get people to spend money. that's probably the most important near term catalyst. >> it leads me to a question about your book. you write about the weekend that changed wall street. mid-september 2008. you called it a confidence and the world is blown. how much of that confidence is

gone for good? how much has been restored? >> i think things have stabilized. a bit has come back but not enough, matt. people need to feel at that system is working for them, not just a portion of the people. and until that confidence comes back, we're probably not going to see stability in the stock market. >> and to that point of it, working for them, not just a few people, you write in the book about the fact that weekend also created class warfare between wall street and main street. that clearly still exists? >> it clearly exists. there's still that feeling that wall street is evil. why would people invest, if they're talking about how evil the banks are. there's a real perception of a division between wall street and main street. make no mistake there really should not be because when that road in your neighborhood needs paving it will be wall street that coming up with the financing. when the wall street needs to create assets and get bigger in terms of ohhal assets under

management, it's main street who will provide that. so they're connected. >> so you're saying it's one thing to target mismanagement on wall street, it's another thing on wall street in general? >> yes, we shouldn't have a brush stroke on business. we shouldn't have. >> maria, thank you. you can see maria on "closing bell" on cnbc. anne's over at the news desk. good to see you. >> good to see you. good morning, this morning, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is stepping into controversy on the home front. general david petraeus warned that a threat by a pastor in florida to burn copies of the muslim holy book, the koran, on september 11 could endanger american troops by inflaming anti-u.s. sentiment. the daredevil arrested monday for scaling a san francisco skyscraper said he did

it to call attention to what he called the ongoing vulnerability of skyscrapers terrorist attacks. dan goodwin is charged with trespassing. the former jetblue flight attendant accused of cursing a passenger before sliding down a chute last month has a court day today. he could be convicted up to seven years if convicted. police say it was a miracle when no one was hurt on the ground when a small plane crashed near the middle of las vegas monday. one person on the plane was killed. investigators are search for the cause of a barn fire monday in west virginia. at least 27 horses were killed but firefighters were able to rescue more than two dozen others. and jefferson thomas died in little rock. davis and others defied the governor and other white protesters when they integrated

the school in 1957. the group received congressional medals in 1999. and jefferson thomas died of cancer. he was 67 years old. and it is now 7:16. he's remembered not only for his courage but also for his humor which the people who knew him said booed him during those dark days. >> a look at the nation's top weather from you, mr. roker. >> an opportunity there. >> by the way, i'm happy to see u. yo >> oh, okay. >> thank you. >> you too, pal. >> that's very nice. >> let's check your weather. we've got hermine down there spinning around texas, lots of thunderstorms, high winds, wet weather. with low pressure in the upper great lakes. that's causing windy condition through wisconsin. a new frontal system moves in the northwest. th e

and here's a live look at golden gate bridge. a whole different look on weather today as well. see the clouds coming in. they are bringing our temperatures down. it will be cool. right now it's 54 in san francisco. not warming up very much, just to about 62, our high today, 57 in san jose, getting up to the mid 70s. as you look ahead to the seven-day forecast, a cooldown today, another cooldown for tomorrow, even drizzle in the afternoon. >> and that's your latest weather. it's hard to believe this weekend will mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. and the angry debate over the mosque at ground zero has increased animosity against muslims nationwide. mike tiabbi is in downtown manhattan outside the proposed site. >> reporter: it took a few months after the plans for the islamic center mosque were made

public for the protests to begin. >> we are not going to allow that mosque. >> reporter: over the weekend, another protest. this one joined by local politicians, including new york congressman peter king. >> just because you have the right to build a mosque does not make it right to build a mosque at ground zero. >> reporter: actually it's two blocks from ground zero, but for some opponents proximity hasn't been the point. bill keller says flatly the whole muslim religion is in his words a lie. >> i believe the 1,400-year history of islam is very clear, it's a religion of hate, violence and death. >> reporter: last week hall of fame golfer carolm mann wrote o her facebook page, america is a christian country, let the muslims erect their worship

centers in other countries. talk show host michael berry said this to the supporters of a local islamic center. >> i'll tell you this, if you do build a mosque, i hope somebody blows it up. >> we are going to have an international burn a koran day. >> reporter: given the overheated rhetoric, some say it's no wonder that when a new york cabbie answered yes last week to a customer's question, are you a muslim, the customer, a young film student stabbed him in the neck almost kill hg im. >> that can happen. >> he and some of the other muslims see the growing -- islamic center should go forward. >> it doesn't seem right, it doesn't seem very islamic to me. >> reporter: but they say they're certain the extreme opposition will weaken over time. >> we are americans and we are loyal to this nation and we believe that one day all of

america will recognize that islam is a religion of peace. >> reporter: for now, though, there are those continuing protests, along with anger directed at muslims generally and at their religion that tests the limits of compromise. as for the plans by that tiny florida church to burn a pile of korans, he said david petraeus says if that happens, it could well endanger the lives of american troops and damage the war effort. and coming up, joran van der sloot's suspected in the disappearance of natalee holloway and of the death of a woman in peru speaks out behind [ bell rings ] what are you doing, friending somebody? yeah. you got time for that? you got time to earn more on your savings, online at capitalone.com. that's new school banking, baby! instead of earning squatootski... your savings will be earning three times the national average.

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coming up, store brands versus generic, is t eally a difference?

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good morning, everyone. good tuesday morning to you. tuesday morning after labor day. has a feel to it. kind of like the day after thanksgiving, back to work, back to school, all that back to stuff, mike is trying to get you there safely. >> hayward, how are you feeling? feeling slow. an earlier accident made things worse. south of san leandro, jammed there and also between the bridges. westbound 580, typically slow. a new accident reported at that dublin interchange, that's not going to change for a few hours. it will get worse there as well. bay bridge toll plaza, backed up

to before the maze. >> it is breezy and cool weather. let's look at the wind speeds. they have picked up a bit. 50 miles per hour in oakland. 21 miles per hour winds in fairfield. and it's going to keep our temperatures low along with the low pressure system that is to the north of us heading this way. 54 in san francisco. 57 in san jose. a look at the seven-day forecast. much cooler temperatures not only today but tomorrow. [ male announcer ] how can rice production in india, affect wheat output in the u.s.,

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the man accused of shooting a fremont police officer is set to appear in an alameda superior court to make a plea today. 20-year-old andrew barrientos is accused of shooting fremont police officer todd young as the police officer tried to serve a warrant in oakland ten days ago barrientos was arrested the next day a quarter mile from the message mexico border. more local news in a half hour. the "today" show returns in a minute.

7:30 now on a tuesday morning, it's the seventh of september, 2010. back to reality, back to school, back to work. i think this would be a great week to take vacation, places are empty, weather is beautiful. a lot of folks out on the plaza, we'll say hello to them in just a little while. i'm matt lauer along with meredith viera. coming up with some really good news for consumers. at the supermarket, stores are often trying to get you to buy their store labels instead of the brand labels, should you?

the answer is a resounding yes. a spectacular crash caught on tape. this iowa football player was riding without a helmet and incredibly walked away with just scrapes and bruises. we're going to talk to him about it exclusively in our next half hour. also ahead, we're kicking off a new series, meredith, al, natalee and i are going back to our new jobs. i'm up first this morning, giving my old paper route in westchester, new york, a lot of people surprised to get newspapers they didn't sign up for. >> it almost looked like you fell off the bike there. >> i wear a helmet later in the piece, i will tell you that, i'm just kidding around. we're going to continues with joran van der sloot, the man long suspected in the disappearance of natalee holloway and in the murder of a bomb in peru. michelle coz zin sky has been following this.

>> reporter: a chance to sit this guy down and finally ask him, can you and will you finally solve the natalee holloway case for good? did you kill this young woman in peru? why have you told so many lies. but joran van der sloot is expert at answering just up to the possibility of finding out the key to these questions for good. it's the first time we have heard from him in a long time and it is intriguing. >> for everything that i have been through since 2005, all the things said in the media, everything i feel guilty for, yeah. >> reporter: guilty is how joran van der sloot says he feels. for his family's shame, his father's heart attack, to not listening to his mother and all the lies he admits he's told these years. >> i was doing a lot of things they shouldn't have been doing.

and mostly going out overnight and sleeping all the day. i have always been very, how you call it, impulsive, always been taking action right away and make a decision immediately and not think about what the consequences are. >> reporter: he explains why he's told so many wildly different stories about what's happened to natalee holloway in aruba. >> people were paying me to make up stories and i was really good at making up stories. everybody keeps coming at you, asking you questions, asking you something, you don't know something and finally you start to think, okay, well, [ bleep ] if you want something, then i'll tell you whatever you want to hear, sure. i misused the situation for my own advantage and i feel bad about that and if i could change that, i would take it back for sure. >> reporter: with three months

locked up in a peruvian prison awaiting trial for murder, has brought him no closer to just saying once and for all his role in the two cases for which he's suspected. >> anything pertaining to the two cases, i'm not going to talk about. >> reporter: murder of the peruvian student stephany flores, playing poker with her in may on the anniversary of natalee holloway's disappearance. they both were seen entering the hotel room and he left alone. stephany flores was found murdered. he says police offered him extradition to aruba. >> they didn't let me talk to anybody, they didn't let me arrange my own lawyer. i'm saying it's not in my

interest at all to talk about this. >> reporter: his interest is still his main concern. what joran does admit to though is extortion, accepting $25,000 from holloway hlnatalee hollowa in exchange for the location of her remains. he says he just made up another story. >> i have had five years long that people have just been playing me for something and, yeah, i have a lot of anger built up because of that also. and at one point, i thought just that, okay, you know, you keep insisting that you want to give me this money, i have already told a lot of different stories, i'll do it again. yeah, i know it's very wrong, very wrong what i did. >> reporter: he says he knows nothing about what really happened to natalee. he says he's doing this interview because he's been portrayed as a monster. and while joran never explained why people should see him any

differently, he expresses some words for the flores family. >> i feel really bad that her family had to lose a daughter, that really does hurt me and i think about it all the time. >> reporter: but did he kill her or not? >> when i speak to the judge and the time is right, i am going to tell the whole truth, absolutely. >> reporter: joran says he wishes he had followed his mother's plans to send him to a psychiatric clinic in holland. >> i have really felt guilty for everything. >> reporter: instead he took the holloway family's money and came to peru to gamble. where another young woman disappeared last seen with him. it could be a year or more behind bars before trial. >> so whatever problems, i created all of them myself, so i have to deal with it now and i'll deal with the consequences. >> reporter: joran says he's

been spending time reading inspirational books. there was some question among aruban investigators to get to peru and talk to him about the holloway case but now you talk to the chief prosecutor and he says well, he's told so many stories over the years, he now has real doubt he would give them anything of interest. john q. kelley is an attorney representing natalee holloway's mother. he's accused of extorting money from the holloway family, but he says he was angry for in his words the holloway family hassle him for years. >> you know, it's always been with joran, he's always the victim, he's always, you know, seeking attention. he's always misunderstood and somebody's absolutely going to tell the truth, i have heard those words from him so many times and he's a pathological liar. >> you met with him this year twice, you're the one that gave

him that initial $10,000 from beth twitty. >> sure. >> hopefully in exchange for information about the whereabouts of her daughter's body. is he willing to admit it's extortion? >> i've got about 3 1/2 hours of videotape and audiotape and e-mails i have exchanged with him and the whole scenario as it played out, so he doesn't have to admit to anything, it's all memorialized. >> he says it's the holloway family that initiated this exchange. >> he contacted me directly in a desperate way, he was asking for money, demanding money in exchange for information and the whole premise of giving him the money is with the understanding that he was ultimately go to lie, we knew he was going to lie and that was going to make up the basis for wire fraud. >> he's now in jail or prison in peru awaiting trial for murder and he's also under indictment

for wire fraud and extortion in the u.s. you would think he would want to stay out of the public eye, why do you think he did this interview? especially since he didn't give any worth while information. >> attention seeking. he wants to be in the spotlight, when he contacted me, he wasn't even on my radar screen, he came out of nowhere, now for six months he's been down in peru rotting in prison and he wants to be out there again, he just can't help himself. >> when he says he's apologetic about his behavior, do you believe him? >> we have got 20 e-mails that he says he's going to tell the truth, absolutely, that's his favorite word, he's going to come clean this time. he's just incapable of it. >> do you see any circumstances where he would tell the truth? >> i think fear, and self-preservation, it's not sympathy for the family, it's not out of respect for his own family, i think the only thing that can make him want to tell

the truth is protecting joran. >> will he ever face the u.s. court? >> everybody's talking about how he might get out of peruvian prisons because he was unjustly arrested, but if does, he's going to wind up in an alabama prison. >> joran van der sloot behind bars, that's friday night at 10:00, 9:00 central time right here on nbc. now let's get a check of the weather from al. we have got a cute family here, where are you guys from? >> new york. >> my father watches the today show every day. >> let's check your weather and see what's happening, we'll show you for "today," nice and mild, 70s and 80s in the northeast, 90s as you get to the gulf coast, 100s as you work your way into the southwest, 50s in the plains states, 60s there, the rest of the country, we're

looking at hermine causing a lot of rain down in south texas where they have tornado watch until 1:00, wet weather in the pacific northwest, scattered thundershowers in the eastern seaboard and those windy conditions back into the great a live look at san francisco, transamerica building there. lots of clouds. we have the clouds that have rolled back in today, they will be sticking around, may clear up this afternoon, but we have some much cooler temperatures than we felt yesterday. today's high in san francisco being about 62 or so. and tomorrow it's going to be even cooler, some drizzle perhaps in the afternoon. along the coast things are dropping as well. we'll be barely out of the 50s and it's going to bounce back up by the weekend. >> and who's this cutie? >> this is dawn. >> wow, that's money. what a cutie.

all right, back to you, meredith. >> she is a keeper, al, thank you very much. up next, store brand versus name brand, sure you can save money buying the generic, but do they taste as good? we have got the answer right after this. what's that? oh, see, this is the back to school list. the cost always makes mom freak. mommy. mom. hey, mom. good times. mom, the back to school list is here. looks expensive. graphing calculator, flash drive, pencils, p--

that was easy. good times. [ male announcer ] get back to school and back to savings on everything on your list at staples. that was easy. ... switch to discover, where you can talk to a real person in less than a minute. it pays to discover.

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this morning on "today's" consumer store brands versus name brands, it can add up quickly if you're buying name brand. but if you buy the cheaper store brands, will they actually taste as good? consumer reports recently conducted a taste test and it's going to make the penny pinchers out there feel pretty good. finally a little love for the store brands? >> absolutely. >> good. >> we have been preaching that message for a long time. and in our latest test, we did 21 head to head matchups, store brands from around the country versus those iconic name brands.

and store brands won 11 times. >> we have our sensory experts at consumer reports and we look at overall quality, freshness of flavors, balance of flavors, the presence of any offnotes or defects. >> let's talk about why this is so important, a study recently found that you can save about on average, 30% if you buy a store brand over a name brand, do the math there. >> oh, sure. >> multiply it by 52 weeks, that's about $5,200 in savings if you were to switch off all store brands. or you can save more or you can save less, but those numbers are real. >> those numbers are based on if you spend $100 a week on groceries. these are items where the store brand beat out the popular name brand. start with soup. >> let's look at these, campbells, one of the most iconic names out there, chicken noodle soup versus food lion. we preferred or our testers preferred the food lion, because

it had a more intense flavor, it wasn't as oily a broth, there was clearly better. >> bad news for oscar meyer and this particular stuff. >> the oscar meyer was certainly okay, but the america's choice was a & p was really juicy and briefly and had a better flavor, where the oscar meyer had kind of an ashy flavor. >> and about a buck difference. these are tossups, these are where the testers say i can really taste no difference. some say they taste better, but it's just as good. >> there could be differences in seasonings and flavors that make them alike. >> canada dry ginger ail versus generic ginner ale.

>> fruit loops versus fruit swirls. these have an artificial flavor, kind of reminiscent of household cleaner, that doesn't mean uniformly good, it just means they taste alike. >> and also good for counter tops. tell me about the yogurt story. >> we had a dan nonyogurt and a food lion yogurt, we thought it had a better vanilla flavor in the food lion. >> danon, 2.14, the food lion, 1.86. the heins ketchup, is a very distedi distinctive flavor. where the foot pantry, was mostly tomatoey.

>> the taste testers opted for the brand name item. starting out oscar meyer deli turkey, better than stop and shop. >> because you could tell it was turkey. >> this one was kind of nondescript and it looked like ham but you couldn't tell. >> and sergeanto's is better. and bumble bee chunk tuna, versus the generic, your testerses like the bumble bee. >> we tested it, it was tuna and it had kind of a tinney taste. >> and some of your store brands, they really can save you an awful lot of money, we're going to put that information up on our website. todd martin, important, and again, a little love for the store brands. speaking of food, we're going to have some nutritious

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cop coming up, an sclu interview from the man who walked away from this collision. >> and matt lauer going back to his first paper route. from the from this collision. >> and matt lauer going back to his first paper route.

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good tuesday morning, everyone. time is 7:56. i'm garvin thomas. mike inouye is here to take us where. >> as you drive into fremont, where we had the last accident, we have a new accident, southbound 880. reports of a motorcycle down in a lane. three lanes are down because of the activity. chp arriving on scenes. likely you will have injuries as a motorcycle is involved. already jammed up to highway 4 and 92. approaching the bay bridge, a slow drive, 45 minutes off the carquinez. not bad down the east shore freeways. look at the slowing out of sunol, richmond because of the earlier accident. that caused backup coming off the carquinez bridge and heading down to the area off of the merge. the racetrack is where the bulk

of the slowing is. through oakland, we see slowing, and also some gray skies. >> what a difference a day makes. lots of clouds outside. clouds here in our live picture of golden gate bridge. the clouds will be sticking around. temperatures will be down at least 10 degrees, possibly up to 20 degrees depending on where you live. tomorrow, the possibility of some drizzle. cool today, cooler tomorrow, but then we'll warm back up by the weekend. [ male announcer ] when meg whitman arrived at ebay,

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a guy known as spider dan is facing misdemeanor charges this morning for going from the bottom to the top of the san francisco skyscraper on the outside. dan goodwin took three hours yesterday to climb the millennium tower in the city's south of market neighborhood. when he made it to the top, some firefighters waiting for him helped him unfurl the american flag. after that police detained him for causing a public new sans and trespassing. goodwin said he did it to raise awareness of cancer and that skyscrapers are still vulnerable to attacks. we're back in 30 minutes.

>> let's start with a check of the morning's top stories with ann at the news desk. sobering news from colorado

where a wind whipped wildfire has been roaring near boulder, fire officials now say dozens of homes have been lost since the fire started on monday in a rugged four-mile canyon including homes belonging to the firefighters themselves. people have been evacuated from 1,000 homes and so far, the fire has spread across more than five square miles. tropical storm hermine is battering southern texas with 55-mile-per-hour winds t real threat however is from flooding, as the storm could drop up to a foot of rain all the way up to dallas. republicans are blasting president obama's latest jobs reports revealed at a labor day rally in milwaukee. he wanting to spend $50 billion on roadways, run ways. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan says the plan to burn the muslim holy book the

koran on the anniversary of the september 11 attacks, general petraeus says images of the koran being burned could flame anti-u.s. sentiment. new video has emerged of the moment a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck new see land on saturday. the video is a surveillance camera at a retail store in christ church. experts warn another earthquake could hit new zealand in the next several days. we get a rare in color glimpse of world war ii from film of the relentless bombing newly found in an attic by the family of an air raid warren who shot it on home equipment. by the end of may 1941, more than 43,000 civilians died in london from german bombs. it is now 8:03, let's get a

check of the weather from al. >> "today's" weather is brought to you by children's advil, relief you can trust. it's a beautiful, breezy morning out here, where are you guys from? >> tampa, florida. >> tampa, florida. and from dallas, they're from everywhere. let's check your weather and see what's happening. billings, montana, nbc 8, sunny and mild, 74 degrees for a high "today." and we have got the jet stream way up to the north, we have got hermine down in texas so there's really nothing to pick that thing up until later on in the week when a trough out west comes and pushes it into the northwest. showers in the pacific northwest, sunny and hot through and here's a live look at oakland, plenty of clouds in the sky. what a difference a day makes. let's take a look ahead at the 7-day forecast. much cooler and breezier this afternoon in pretty much the

entire bay area. unseasonably cool with some driz areal tomorrow after into and then we will be returning to our more average temperatures come thursday. hopefully a little bit warmer by the weekend. >> and that's your latest weather. up next, matt lauer paper boy extraordinary. fancy feast appetizers. simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment.

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♪work working for a living "today's" first job, you got to start somewhere.

matt, al and i are looking back to our first paid employment. >> rediscovering my first job took me back to hartsfield, new york armed with a new bag i pedalled my way into a new career bringing news to america one paper at a time. it was the late 1960s, one of the most exciting times in recent american history. we had landed on the moon. and i had landed my first job as a paper boy for our hometown daily, t"the reporter dispatch." i was 12 years old and on the front lines of delivering the news. >> everybody bought the paper, this was their window to the world. >> reporter: and my little corner of the world was the dalewood rental complex onfie fieldstone drive, i delivered the paper to my old apartments

in the middle of a working class neighborhood. that was my bedroom window from third grade until tenth grade. that's it number 34. number 75, that's where my first crush, amy chandler lived. convenient. they would drop off the bundles of newspapers at this bench in my neighborhood in the i would come down here and the first thing you do is you open the bundle, then you have to fold it by opening a section and folding the other section into it and then slamming it down. this was the time consuming part, folding newspapers every single day. i wanted to have the sense that on any given week i could go out and buy a 45 record, whether it was the beetles or the stones and it was my money. >> if you didn't collect the money or you didn't keep good records, you would end up noll earning anything. >> i had a stingray bike, it was

orange, it had a v handle with the banana seat and a stick shift. this is how i made it around the neighborhood every single day, except for when it was raining, then my mom drove me in the car. these days it's hard to find a kid on the route, a slow death of the evening edition means 80% of newspaper carriers are now adults. but there are a few holdouts, like 15-year-old rachel denny of pennsylvania's beaver county times, voted best youth carrier in her six-state region. like me, she's up every morning at 4:30, out hoofing it with her dad, door to door, two hours and 200 papers a day. >> you don't throw papers? >> no, i put them on the door. >> reporter: you just drop them? >> yeah. >> reporter: you're not a real paper carrier until you throw papers. i invited the young whipper snapper for a ride on my route.

now we're going to deliver some papers. come on, let's go. these were the houses on my route, the whole trick was to get it as close to the door as possible. i was a little behind it. your turn. >> my turn? >> reporter: big-time, 193 hinewood drive. >> okay, here we go. that's not good. >> reporter: right by the sidewalk there. it's going to get wet in the rain. >> oops. >> go behind the back. >> reporter: come on, this isn't my first day on the job. no more walking and driving for you. i want to see you on a bike. >> okay. >> reporter: either chair, you pick the chair, okay? >> that's bad, sorry. >>. >> reporter: regional paper carrier of the year? what was that? at least i hit it. last chance, one more. that's it! >> oh! >> reporter: ten cents for the

grill the two things you always zreded as a paper boy, three things, bad weather, dogs and deadbeats. what about deadbeats, what about the people who don't pay you on time? >> i try to have my dad deal with them. but it's rough. >> reporter: have you ever had a close call like a dog or something like that? >> there's this dog that's huge, every time i go past, it acts like it's going to attack me. >> when i was a kid, a little jack russell terrier used to give me fits every single day, he would chase me all the way down the block. in 1960, all the papers were delivered by boys and girls. "toda today it's basically something that doesn't exist. and that's because a lot of things have changed and parents don't want their kids out there on the street collecting. and it's a bit sad because it meant a lot to me as a kid. i want to share with you a treat

that i would get after my paper route. i would get a yoohoo. everything looks different here, i used to buy fishing lures with my earnings and rachel bought a car. i realized there will always be first jobs and good kids and at least that remains the same. >> she's a sweet girl. >> you're the one who did it for her. >> there was a deli that was on my route. at the end of my route, i would buy yoohoo in a can or a pickle. mine was in the afternoon.

>> do they still make those stingray bikes? was that new, that bike. >> somebody in props got that. very much like my old bike which was really cool. it's amazing when you i think about it though, i started out with 55 papers, the papers make about $25 a week, by the time i insurgented the guy out and had 150 papers, i made about $50 a week. >> that money is impress sif. >> were there days that you didn't want to do it where your mom or dad would say get out there. >> you can't say no. >> so you were really good at delivering the news? >> what are you doing tomorrow? >> my first paying job was as a

dance teacher for little kids. and some of them came back, they're now grown up and i saw them again. >> oh, yeah? >> where were you then? >> in east providence. i started teaching there when i was like 14. >> cool. >> so we get to see that tomorrow? >> and thyes, you get to see th tomorrow. >> and then the rest of you later on in the week? >> yes. and jamie lee curtis wrote a new children's book. out of bed. st to get then... well... i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq. (announcer) pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine.

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of oscar mayer deli fresh ham. thanks dad. just the way we like it. well of course, i am your dad. ♪ ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪ i was, like, the first person to leave home. ♪ my name is elan, and i'm saving up to buy a new toyota corolla. i really need the reliability that the corolla provides. i am a bookkeeper, and also a prep chef, so i need to be driving around from place to place. for the initial down payment, i'm six months out from when i get to go in and buy the corolla and get the keys. [ male announcer ] share your toyota story on facebook.com/toyota. she may be best known for her film roles, but for the last 15 years, she's also a superstar

in the world of children's boorks, her newest is my mommy from the moon. good morning to you, jamie. i was saying to you before, i remember in 1993 buying your first book, because i had a 4-year-old boy, nine books later, can you believe it? >> huh-uh. it astonishes me, i looked down and my eyes filled with tears. the idea that i'm holding a book and i'm is thing here able to talk about it. that's just extraordinary. >> and the book is about unconditional love between a mother and her children and i understand that you always come one the book title first. >> i do. >> and then the story follows? >> yes. >> where did this book title come from? >> i heard a woman describing her life and i heard her say, my family thinks i hung the moon and i had never heard the phrase before and i thought about a child and it's a book about mother love, it's a book about that incredible bond that only a mother knows.

so for me it came out of that a child is 100% dependent and the mother provides everything, mother provides nerve, good, shelter, ipod, whatever. >> and if she does it right, kids do think she hung the moon. >> and ultimately we can all chart our adult lives by our connection to our mothers. >> and this book is dedicated to your mom, actress janet lee, she passed away in october. your book opens with this line, my mommy hung the moon, she tied it with a string, my mom's good at everything. is this book about your mom? >> no. no, although my mom was good at a lot of things. the idea that my mommy's good at everything. it's that boast that a child

makes. you know, a child, you're your mommy. that's my mommy. and my mom was good at many, many things. my mom was a public person. and she had to dance the life of a public person and a private person. and i have tried to dance the same life trying to focus more on my role as a mother because in my opinion and it's mine and i understand that many women have to work to take care of their children, but the only real thing that's important is what we do with our children. all the work we do is great. and certainly taking care of them, but the love that we show a child is to me the primary reason for me being a mother and my mother tried her best and she was flawed, i am flawed. she was contradict try, i am contradictory, i am just trying to do it a little differently. >> i know you do a lot of interviews around the book. and you have another coming out.

>> yes, very soon. >> you said that it's none of your business, but you have had addictions of your own. you have been very public about the painkillers and the alcohol. >> by the way, my recovery is the single greatest accomplishment of my life. and without that, the rest of my life would have fallen apart. >> how did you succeed? >> it is the miracle of recovery. some people get it -- robert downey jr. was in prison for a year. and he is not only the greatest movie star in the world, he's a fantastic representative of someone who can repair the damage of their life. recovery is an acceptance that your life is in a shambles and you have to change it. and i was lucky i didn't have to lose anything, but recovery and motherhood are the two single greatest things in my life. writing books, all of the rest of it, my husband, all of the

rest of it, the most important thing is my sobriety and my children. >> thank you, jamie, the name of the book is "my mommy hung the moon." >> thanks, meredith. josh has taken some hard hits as center for the university of iowa football team. but nothing like last week, he was riding his moped when he was struck head on by a pick-up truck. it sent him flying through the air, but at the end, he was actually able to get right back up. the accident was caught on a police cruiser's dash cam, josh is with us now exclusively. josh, good morning. i have to tell you, we get to see a lot of video around here, josh, rarely do i gasp outloud when i see some footage like this one. how are you? >> i'm fine, just a few scratches and a bruise, but that's about it. >> you went flying through the air, this was a head-on collision with a pick-up truck, you remember everything about it? >> i do.

i -- as i was getting in the intersection, i saw the truck last minute and i couldn't even hit the brakes and, yeah, it's not like i was flying through the air and the next thing i knew, i rolled over, i saw my phone and grabbed it and stood up. my first reaction was to get to the sidewalk. >> when you saw the videotape, did it shock you? >> yeah, a little bit. i mean it's a crazy video to see and my dad and i went and watched it the next day at the police station and the officers were pretty shocked by the video also, so -- >> and your dad, i think you did something else together, you went and actually talked to the driver of the truck who was pretty shaken up, he thought he had really hurt you, you just went to see him to tell him you were okay, right. >> i just wanted to let him know i was fine and that it was an accident, you know, accidents happen and i didn't want him losing anymore sleep over it. so i just wanted to let him know

i was fine. >> you weren't wearing a helmet, you have a football helmet with you now, you promise to wear one in the future? >> oh, yeah. >> all right, josh, we are so happy you're okay, good luck and good luckit good morning, everyone, time is 8:26. i'm garvin thomas. let's get a check of your commute with mike, homely no one is colliding with scooters. >> that video, not from my traffic report. although we did have a motorcycle accident here, cleared from the the road way, southbound 880 moving relatively smoothly but still very slow southbound, we will recover the next half hour. this will not recover from the morning. this is the dublin ingter change, 580 out of livermore, southbound 680 out of san ramon. dublin heavy to the sunol grade that is where the focus is here,

coming to the toll plaza, slow off the eastshore freeway, another accident in berkeley. >> sorry to hear that, but plenty of clouds out in the sky, our weather is not so great, but it is very typical. wary all right cooler today than we were yesterday. there is going to be clouds and fog along the coast this afternoon. we are not warming up much more than the 70s in most spots. tomorrow, 70s, drizzle. right now, 54, san fran, 58, san jose. let's look at the 7-day forecast, cooler today, even cooler tomorrow. the coast pretty chilly. some drizzle ahead tomorrow afternoon. more news after the the break. [ man ] i was deciding what to do

with my citi thankyou points when it happened... [ glass breaks ] ...again. ♪ [ child ] run! [ man ] first it was the mailbox. then my squirrel. and now, this. so i used my points to make a donation to get the park down the street built. when it finally opened, i also used my points for... car repair. [ male announcer ] use your citi thankyou points for almost anything, even local charities. what's your story? citi can help you write it.

hercules blitz are searching a pittsburg landfill for a fifth day today. they are looking for receipt mains of 35-year-old frederick solis. police think he have fram valdermorro killed solis. solis has been missing since august 27th. yesterday, valdermorro was killed in a high-speed chase. they think he killed solis as well as three other people. we will be back in 30 minutes with more local news.

last seas we're back now, 8:30 on a tuesday morning. it's the seventh day of september, 2010. it's another picture perfect morning here in the northeast after a gorgeous labor day weekend. earl blew through her on friday. it's been magnificent ever since. these people are spending part

of our morning on the a plaza. great to be home. >> we have got a performance in studio in just a little while from the grammy nominated artist sarah barella. remember the preppie handbook. and also a wildly popular over the years, a look at stylists, an author on screen big and small. now we're back with an update. the person is here with tom brokaw. also if you don't think you have enough time to make healthy fresh food for your baby or your toddler. then you haven't met norah o'donnell.

she's the mother of three children. there she is, along with her husband, he's a chef. they're setting off alarms everywhere for the whole family. and a little later on in joy's diet s.o.s., we have got some healthy recipe force you to eat on the run. all the time we spent on here, it doesn't happen very often. let's check it out and show you what's happening for "today," we have got the remnants of tropical storm hermine, wet weather in the pacific northwest, northern new england, also around the great lakes, it's going to be windy and rainy, tomorrow showers through new york, the heavy rain spreads up into oklahoma from hermine, wet weather in the

pacific northwest, some showers through alaska and the sunshine and heat continue along and here's a live look at san jose. there are some clouds in the sky that are going to be sticking around. we are going to have those clouds through tomorrow. it is going to be much cooler and breezy this afternoon, unseasonably cool and some coastal drizzle tomorrow. but we are going to be returning to more average temperatures for this time of year on thursday through the weekend, but you're definite thely going to need a sweat or a jacket. get outside and enjoy. >> check your weather any time of the day or night on weather.com. 44 years married, julie and mark? >> that's our son and daughter. jackie and jim. >> jackie and jim.

>> you don't have anything to say. >> that's how you stay married for 44 years. and coming up, the preppie handbook. big fish too... you know why?

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you gotta stop earning zippo, t-rex! get a higher rate, pterodactyl. interest plus savings at three times the national average. go to capitalone.com what's in your wallet? two spoons please! this morning on "today's" style, the preppie look, 30 years ago the preppie handbook took america by storm. lisa helped tom brokaw understand what it meant to be a preppie. today she's releasing a follow-up original athlete titled true press, it's a whole new old world book. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> why now after 30 years, why the sequel? >> actually the reason why is online somebody pointed out to me, there was a world of people saying, please, we need something. this is a strange world we're living in, technology, nostradamas couldn't have

predicted the cell phone. then there's this huge revolution. >> and you say it's a big change for the preppies out there. >> it's polar place, because we used to say no unnatural fibers can touch our skin. and now we're wearing fres can. children under the age of 20 have never known a flees free life and even preppies have to dress their kids for sports. >> originally when you wrote this book, the preppie handbook 30 years ago, were you shocked at the response? why do you think it took off like it did? >> here was the powerful elite that had never been decoded before and here we were blowing the lid on them. that plus a couple of good appearances from the "today" show. i think also people didn't understand at first who we were. people would say, well, i was on tour, where are these people, where do you find them and what are they wearing?

i said these are my family and friends, thank you, and they're wearing their own clothes. i think we were sort of misunderstood and now it's time as the globalization has come about and the world has become much more inclusive for preppies to be included. >> and in your book, you really didn't see people of color? and now there are many. >> that's another big change in the 30 years, the intermarriage, the interbreeding, the inter everything, it's sort of pointless to keep people out now, some people may say, oh, she's doing that book again, i don't think that's exactly -- you know, i don't think that's nice. >> it's not nice at all. >> it's not nice. >> you made some notable preppies of "today" and i want to go through some of them with you, which i find interesting. you say michelle obama is a prep. >> she was the language of us magazine. she rocks those cardigans, and of course she is, she went to

princeton for goodness sake, you can't go to princeton and not be touched by the kind of preppyification that happens. you may not want to be, but you're at f. scott fits gerald's school. >> and her husband is on the list? >> he went to private school for 13 years, give me a break. >> oliver stone. why oliver stone? >> thrown out of school twice. >> is that a prerequisite for being a preppie? >> it's so major. his parents were divorced and he had to go to boarding school and he had drug problems. and then gwyneth paltrow. >> gwyneth paltrow looks it, there may be a shrine to gwyneth, i don't know where it is, but she definitely went to the good girls school here. when she was in the movie emma, i'm not kidding, she didn't need any training for french, music or art training.

she had all those skills. and that's part of the point of this book is that if you go to these schools, not that you have to be a preppie, but if you do, you will glean, even if you fall asleep in class or cut, you will glean great lessons for your life. >> a lot of people think it was about money, but it was really about etiquette. >> rich people you see getting out of the limo with lock jaw. and manners are so much more important. >> absolutely, i'm going to take a look at preppies in the year 2010. so let's bring out our models. >> it's that time. >> tell me how the looks have changed. >> well, the looks -- since color, flees and other preppie things have been ininvestigated,

preppie clothes fit a lot better than they used to. i'm going to show you gigi, she's wearing the new line from brooks brothers for little girls that never kpisd. and kevin is wearing the corduroy, it's like roy decoy, they're horizontal. and greta is adorable. >> that bag was, we had to have that bag. >> well, yes. >> and here's little oliva in her metallic laced sperries. it's not pink and green anymore that lily is wearing. and what kevin's wearing is part of the signature line. there's something for everybody, that will make you need to wear

sunglasses. >> the book is "true prep." and norah o'donnell cooks up something with the

this morning on "today's" kitchen, we're going back to basics with nbc's norah o'donnell and her husband, they have three young children and busy jobs, but despite all that, they found a great way to give their kids nutritious meals without spending hours in the kitchen. that's a good idea. they're out with the new book "baby love," delicious ideas for your baby and toddler. you both have busy jobs and yet you're making home made baby food. now i feel great about myself. how do you find time for this? >> it helps being married to a chef, no doubt. but when jeff started making these recipes and it just took

an hour, i was like this is so easy, you got to tell people about this? he's like nobody cares, i said are you kidding? busy moms like me if they knew that it only takes an hour per week, this could affect people. >> i can get a lot of this stuff that's pretty good in a jar and it's not that expensive, what about my time? >> over six months we sort of calculated it in the book and you save about $400 during the six months. >> you're saving that much money. if you costed it out, a jar of pureed carrots. >> you know what's going to your kids food. this is cinnamon apple oatmeal raisen puree. >> it's absolutely delicious, it's like apple pie and it takes about eight minutes to make the whole recipe. >> are you starting with organic apples? >> we're starting with organic

apples that way we don't even have to peel it which saves more time right there. we're going to cut up, we have got four apples right here, just easy cut them up. we toss the apples right into our four-quart pop. i'm going to let you do the apple juice here. >> in the recipe, you can use water or apple juice. you're using apple juice now, doesn't that add a little sugar to this? >> there's no added sugar in this apple juice, you're not going to be using kool-aide or anything like that. but a little extra calories for young kids, it helps them sleep a little bit more. >> did you research some of these recipes? >> to me the nutritional aspect is a big deal. starting your kids a healthy foundation for healthy eating, so throughout the book you see all these nutrition tips. apples are vitamin packed and processed food in a jar, it gets cooked so much a lot of the nutrients get cooked out.

>> we have got the cinnamon in there, it really adds flavor. i think it's great that the recipe in the book have all sorts of different flavors. >> before going to work, i realized we had no food, i ran out and made it, take a shower and get to work. >> and then after that, what did you do, macromay a hammock? >> but the house smelled like apple pie. it smelled wonderful. >> how long do you cook this? >> about eight minutes. >> we're going to add the oatmeal and cook it for one more minute. and that will help thicken it up and make it a little richer. >> now you've cooked it for nine minutes and you take it out and put it on a food processor. >> make sure the top is on tight, we have had this disaster before. >> this is the most interesting part, you actually believe in

getting your kids involved in the cooking so they start to understand how -- you have to turn that off, i can't talk over that. so they understand the healthier eating right? >> yes, like our kids, we taught them how to make pancakes, they crack the eggs and measure things out. so we're making pancakes so it's not egg mcmuffins all the time. you take this and you put it in an ice cube tray and then the idea is one hour every two weeks so you're not making it every single meal. >> what we do is i freeze it overnight, then i pop it out and put it in zip lock bags and the fruits and the vegetables will last six months. >> look at the colors and i guess it's because it's all fresh, but those colors are beautiful. did you ever eat these yourself? >> i do. i'm a total food junky and this is one of my favorites. this is a perfectly basic key.

when we made this, look at this, compared to like peas in a jar. you can put like a pat of butter on this and a piece of fish on top. >> i'm sticking with the oatmeal raisin apple pie. by the way the book is "baby love." [ female announcer ] we know jerry brown was mayor of oakland,

but what were the results? fact: brown promised to irove schools. but the drop out rate increased 50%, and the state had to take over the schools. fact: the city controller found employees paid for 22,000 hours... they never worked. fact: brown promised to cut crime. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now.

the toyota concert series on "today" brought to you by toyota. >> her hit song "love song" she had a fast rise to fame selling more than 1 million copies, earning two grammy award nominations and now she's releasing her follow-up album. sarah, good morning to you. people talk a lot about the sophomore album anxiety, did you feel any of that. >> big-time. >> really? >> for sure. i think there's still that to an extent. "today's" the big release day it's a really interesting sensation, because everyone's sort of comparing you to yourself. so you kind of can't win. >> your first album was a huge success and you were fretting about how the label was trying

to force you to write a love song. what's with the label? >> apparently we have some issues to resolve. actually it's a little more broad stroked than that. it was more about getting feedback on my material for the first time and feeling really self-conscious about that. >> it's a fantastic song, you're going to perform it for it us right now. take it away. ♪ oh, oh, oh, oh, ♪ keep drinking coffee staring down across the table ♪ ♪ while i discuss why ♪ don't let anything that you told me you were able ♪ ♪ i just keep quiet and count the cards ♪ ♪ you've got opinions and we're

all entitled to them ♪ ♪ but i never ask ♪ so let me thank you for your time ♪ ♪ and get out of here fast ♪ i hate to break it to you baby ♪ ♪ i'm not drowning ♪ no one here to say who cares if you disagree ♪ ♪ you don't li who died and madg of anything ♪ ♪ tell me who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ♪ you don't know innocence ♪ but you expect me to jump up for you ♪ ♪ quite often in your

delusional ♪ ♪ i'm not the one who's wrong ♪ no direction at all ♪ you're so busy making maps ♪ the same old traps ♪ we can disagree ♪ who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ tell me who died and made you king of anything ♪ snowe all my life i have tried to make everybody happy ♪ ♪ well i'm waiting for someone to tell me ♪ ♪ uh-oh ♪ uh-oh ♪ uh-oh

♪ we can disagree ♪ you lie to me ♪ who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ tell me who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ who cares if you disagree ♪ who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ tell me who died and made you king of anything ♪ ♪ i may hold your crown baby ♪ yeah coming up, the anti-aging secrets of the stars. to

good morning, everyone, time is 8:56, i'm garvin thomas. hope you had a great three-day weekend and ready to tackle the workweek. >> hope you enjoyed your weekend, cause the commute right now not so great. take you to the peninsula, garvin, southbound 101, blocked,

approaching the scene of the accident that is still blocking those two right lanes, as we said. southbound continues to be slow heading down the lower bayshore freeway, 101 accident at whipple and that is going to be a problem as you heading into the congestion at marsh into the south bay. anotr wohe another wouldn't 101, 880 and there is your traffic throughout the south bay. more on this. to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car that we'd ever competed with. the bmw m5. and the mercedes-benz e63. for it was their amazing abilities that pushed us to refine, improve and, ultimately, develop the world's fastest production sedan. [ engine revving ] the cts-v, from cadillac. the new standard of the world.

but deadly on fleas. venafo r the flea specialist, for effective, but gentle flea control.

chris will be in this chair in 30 minutes, another local news update for you. the "today" show returns in just about a minute.

we're back with more of ""today"" on this 7th day of september 2010, most people are heading back to work and school. we have some people here playing hooky apparently. but we're happy they're here enjoying a beautiful day in new york. i'm matt lauer along with natalee morales and al roker out on the plaza this morning. did you have a nice weekend? >> yeah, i worked up here yesterday. >> you were here yesterday, that's right. we appreciate that. you were off enjoying yourself, you have been traveling like crazy. >> yeah, home for a little bit. >> good for you. okay coming up in this half hour, a fascinating jailhouse interview with joran van der sloot.

he is in a peruvian jail on charges of murdering a young woman down there, but of course he's also the guy who's under suspicion in the disappearance of natalee holloway five years ago in aruba. wait until you hear what he has to say about her disappearance and charges that he tried to extort her family. and on a lighter note, yesterday marked the unofficial end of summer, back to school, back to really hunkering down at work. so on our diet s.o.s., joy bauer will help us with everything from portable protein snacks to feeding a fussy preschooler. and what a lot of people are talking about, the truth about gluten and going gluten free. the secret of hollywood stars and how they defy their age from timeless beauties like susan sarandon. to kim cantrell. we're going to check out their exercise routines that keep them turning heads at all ages.

a lot to get to. ann's standing by at the news desk, she has all the headlines. hi, ann. >> good morning once again, everybody, in the news, a wind whipped wildfire has destroyed dozens of homes in the colorado foothills according to a fire official there. the blaze broke out monday in the four-mile canyon northwest of boulder and spread rapidly. more than five square miles have been burned and 1,000 homes have been evacuated. tropical storm hermine is bringing heavy rains and strong winds to south texas. the storm crossed into texas within hours. it is threatening to dump up to a foot of rain all the way up to dallas. more bodies have been pulled from the mud covered highway in guatemala where back to back landslides over the weekend buried bus passengers and then the people trying to rescue them. at least 45 people have died in these mudslides which were caused by torrential rains from a tropical depression. joran van der sloot, the dutch man suspected in the 2005 disappearance of american teenager natalee holloway in

aruba, now admits in a jailhouse interview that he extorted $25,000 from holloway's family in exchange of false information about natalee's remains. >> it has been five years that people have just been blaming me for something and, yeah, i have a lot of anger built up because of that also and at one point i just thought that, okay, you keep insisting that you want to give me this money, i have already told a lot of different stories, i'll do it again, yeah, i know it's very wrong. very wrong what i did. but van der sloot insists he knows nothing about what happened to natalee holloway. he is currently jailed in peru charged with murdering a young woman there. in los angeles, a protest over the deadly police shooting of a guatemalan immigrant. it turned violent overnight.

police said several demonstrators were arrested and three bottles and started trash fires. on sunday, officers say they fatally shot the immigrant because he came at them with a knife. video from a georgia sheriff's deputy's dash cam recorded a fiery end to a crash and a rescue to go along with it. it shows three sheriff's deputies risking their lives to save a man from a burning car after a wreck near atlanta. some frightening moments meantime at an arizona diamondbacks home game when a bat flew out of the player's hands and hit a young player on the head. but 13-year-old mason fox gave a thumbs-up sign as he was carried away. he was treated at the hospital and then was later released. it is now four minutes past the hour, let's go back outside to al for a check of the weather. >> actually i'm coming upstairs, ann, but thank you very much and thank goodness that little boy's okay. let's check it out to see what's going on. we've got tropical storm hermine 50 miles west of corpus christi,

texas, it's moving fwhst at 17, we have tornado watches up from corpus christi to just west of galveston until 1:00. here's the path of hermine, it will travel through central texas on into oklahoma and it's going bring a heck of a lot of rain with it. we're talking in some areas 10 to 12 inches of rain over the next three days just north of san antonio and about five to seven inches in parts of central oklahoma. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the and here's a live look over at oakland airport. you can see plenty of clouds out in the sky. those low clouds are hugging the coast and they are going to be making their way inland throughout the day and unfortunately, that's bringing some cooler temperatures, almost 20 degrees in some areas, cooler than it was yesterday, in the mid to high 70s for top numbers along the coast, low 60s into the 50s. tomorrow afternoon, we are even going to see some drizzle around the coast.

time joy's s.o.s. we dole out advice for your diet. joy's a registered dietitian and nutritionist and "today" she's covering everything from packing in protein when you're on the run to dealing with a fussey preschooler. we're going to go to diane in altoona, iowa. diane, good morning, and what's your question. >> caller: good morning, i travel and also work internationally, i'm trying to find a goo good protein replacement bar that won't melt. because i'm always on the run. it's confusing all the choices. can you make a recommendation? >> it can be very challenging to find that perfect bar so it's a great question and thanks for asking it. and once that per faekt bar for you might not necessarily be perfect for someone else. but in general, when it comes to bars, i tell people to look for bars that have at least seven

grams of protein, no more than two grams of saturated, that's the artery clogging fat, at least two grams of fiber and when it comes to calories if you're using it as a snack and you're trying to lose weight, less than 200 calories, but if you're using it as a meal replacement like you just talked about or weight is not an issue, about 350 calories is going to be fine. for you, you don't want a mess, you don't want anything that's going to melt in the heat, no chocolate chips and no coatings. so these are a few, crisp bar has some nonchocolate varieties. also power bar the harvest and power bar nut natural. you will find bars that are going to fit the bill that we just discussed. something else to think about, you could take a hodgepodge of trail mix yourself and you can get the same bang for your buck, whole grain cereals, dry fruits, nuts and throw in roasted

armane. it will bump up the protein and the fiber and it's delicious. >> and cheaper. >> and it's all over the place now, you can get it at health food stores or main stream grocery markets. >> now let's go to andrea in arvada, colorado, she's on the phone. good morning, andrea, what's your question? >> caller: my preschooler has food texture issues, he doesn't eat crunchy foods, one of the things he does eat is peanut butter but his class will be nut free this year. >> your son is gorgeous, and these texture issues are pretty widespread amongst kids and crunchy ones seem to be the most common. crunchy cereals and crunchy snack bars. i have had the best luck with simple single foods. try applesauce cup, plain or flavored yogurt. there's a natural drinkable

smoothy yogurt. there's a combination. there's whole wheat pasta. if you really want to take -- >> chile for lunch. >> you also work the organic kitchen, they have pizza bites that are fine at room temperature. >> how about grilled cheese. >> grilled cheese is great. and chicken caquesadillas. if he loves peanut butter, ask if you can send in so i nut butter or sun flower butter, because that can work as well. good luck. >> and finally you have a viewer

e-mail, this one from donna from new york. what is gluten and why is it bad for you? is it a natural occurring substance or man-made and why do we hear so much about it these days? >> such a buzz word. gluten is a naturally occurring protein and it's found in wheat, barley and rye, and anything, whether it's a commercial product that's made with wheat, barley and rye. and for the most part, the majority of people can digest it perfectly fine. but there are a subset of people that have a condition called celiac disease and if you have this, your doctor will discuss this with you. your gastrointestinal tract will view it as a toxin and there are some very severe medical side effects. but there's some people who have an intolerance to it.

you're going to do that by a personal evaluation, if you eat something with gluten and you feel bloated or lethargic, then you may make the decision to lay off it. don't make the decision that it's bad just because people are following this gluten free diet. eat clean gluten free whole foods. you don't want to fall prey to all the gluten free cookies and the cakes and the candies, then you gain weight and you feel horrible. >> joy bauer, thanks so much. still to come on "today," a problem for more than 7 million women, infertility. dr. nancy snyderman is going to answer more of your questions. coming up next, from susan serandon to cindy crawford. for those of us who have lactose intolerance,

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"today's" woman is brought to you by aveeno. this morning on "today's" woman, how hollywood's hottest women stay fresh faced and fabulous over 40. linda welch, editor and chief of allure magazine. lets start with the gorgeous susan serandon, looking at her, i would never have guessed her age. >> one of the things she does is she doesn't go in the sun. she moisturizes her skin more often, and that's true, as you get older your estrogen levels drop and that's what yaw need to do. and she gets laser treatments that take care of the brown

spots, just a little light laser at the dermatologist's office. she's been playing sexy since the late '80s. the sexy older woman. she wears less makeup, she says as you get older, she doesn't want to have whatever happened to baby jane on her face and she's very good about getting to the gym. she notices if she goes a couple of days without exercising, we all do, right? >> exactly, it's as much for the mind as it is for the body. and next we have a supermodel, imon, her skin just glows at the age of 55. >> she's taken care of her skin since she was 9, it's part of her culture, she's from kenya, but she started cleansing and moisturizing at the age of nine. she went to a dermatologist who said she has to stay out of the sun. and she wears an sk 2 mask and

she says it makes her look like she's been resting for a week. >> and next is cindy crawford at age 44 and it's all about her gorgeous hair. >> she realizes that coloring her hair she does it often, it gives her hair a kind of shine to it and that's important because your hair ages the way your skin does, and if you take care of the body and the skin and everything else, she's really conscientious. >> she's gorgeous. next is 512-year-old andy mcdowell and she says she actually embraces aging, but does she have a few beauty tricks as well? >> she uses tib s tinted moistu instead of foundation. sometimes if your moisturizer is a little too thin, it can make

lines. and then she makes sure that the skin under her eyes, she puts cream on it and taking care of that and the l'oreal skin care eye serum is a really good one for that. but she likes what's happening to her face. and i think with all these women self-acceptance makes a big difference, it's not overdoing it and going to the plastic surgeon and being comfortable about where you r. >> you can cover up your rear end, but you can't do much about your face. >> and kim catrell, she's the fun, confident and sexy woman in "sex and the city." all of the "sex and the city" ladies are over the age of 40 right now, so what basics can we learn about what they're using. >> the one thing that every woman is use over 40 is rheetin

and it stimulates the production of collagen, you can get a prescription for it or you can get an over-the-counterer one. and we like neutrogena skin care line. and then also you want to exfoliate, because as your skin gets older, the skin cells don't turn over as much so your skin can look dull, all you need to do is help that along a little bit, we like a chemical exfoal yant because the scrubs can be a little abrasive. avon has a new one, it's a pad, you rub it on, it's like cell regeneration, then your skin isn't dull, it's lively and that's the real key thing is to have everything look bright and healthy. >> and the key thing with all of these women just an example is the body confidence in who they are. >> they all exercise, they all take care of their skin and

these women are real role models with all of us, so it's interesting that hollywood is having a resurgence in these women and it gives us something to look forward to and they actually have something to say, they're real women of substance. >> so they're the new 35. let's embrace that. linda welchs as always, thanks for that. coming up, from controlling your cravings to curbing your appetite, we're going to talk about the fiv d of dieting. but first these messages. can't eat this. can't do that. can't lose weight. but on weight s,tccahi weigh less than i did in high school. can. stand here not suckin' in a thing. sure can. lose weight, and feel lighter and liberated in so many ways. i can. and you can too. and you can join for free. ♪ i can. i can. i can. ♪ [ female announcer ] and, if you join by september 25th you can get get a month free. weight watchers. because it works.

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so coming up, we're going to hear from those two women who were attacked in two separate states as police are now looking for their attacker and finding out what they have got to say. you might want to follow the five ds of dieting. tell you what they are. and back to school fashions for mom. [ female announcer ] nutri-grain -- one good decision... ♪ ...can lead to another. ♪ ♪ ...made with real fruit

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96% saw instantly longer lashes. this is the start of something big. new revlon growluscious mascara. good morning to you, a couple minutes before 10:00, i'm kris sanchez, here with mike. the good news is the toll plaza is -- >> clear, bad news it is clear, all the folks held up on the eastshore freeway, 45-minute drive off the carquinez bridge over to the bay bridge toll plaza. the bulk slowing here, pinole, san pablo and richmond. very slow there and also very slow through livermore, 580 westbound a problem all morning, a lot of folks coming become to the area. this was a problem, of course, the opposite directions, folks to tahoe, no one in tahoe, everyone back here. folks heading through the sunol grade, a live shot shows you the bright skies and the traffic moving slowly but smoothly

through the south to the south bay, golden gate bridge shows you a different shot as far as traffic goes, lighter traffic as far as weather goes, low clouds hanging out there on the golden gate. >> and those low clouds are heading from the coast inland, they are going to be making their way into the inland areas as the day goes on. unfortunately, 55, san francisco, 61, oakland, 60, san jose, let's take a look our 7-day forecast. today, we are really cooling off 10 to 20 degrees from where we were yesterday, along the coast, much cooler. tomorrow, a little cooler as well and then in the afternoon, some drizzle along the coast. the things will be bouncing back up by thursday to about average temperatures. more news after the break.

sweet n' sour filled twizzlers. the twist you can't resist. out of work fishermen and business owners affected by the huge drop in west coast salmon may get much-needed financial help. the number of king salmon migrating up the sacramento river crashed from 7 0,000 in 2002 to a record low of 39,500 last fall much the u.s. commerce department is now looking into a request from the governor to

extend a 2-year-old federal emergency declaration that would provide new help for businesses and fishermen who rely on salmon fishing for their livelihoods. efforts to restore bay area wildlife will take center stage today. senator dianne feinstein will be at the dumbarton bridge this morning where she will preside over the grand opening of the first completed habitat restoration project of the south bay's salt ponds. the project includes a public trail. tens of thousands of birds are expected to flock to the salt marshes. some 237 acres have been converted into a 30-island bird habitat. we have more local news coming up for you in a half hour and the today show returns in less than a minute. have a good morning. [ female announcer ] we know jerry brown was mayor of oakland, but what were the results? fact: brown promised to improve schools. but the drop out rate increased 50%, and the state had to take over the schools. fact: the city controller found employees paid for 22,000 hours... they never worked.

fact: brown promised to cut crime. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now. i like making noise, maybe because i was a tomboy. the first sound you make is like that and i love the sound to that. >> that's meredith tap dancing her way into our hearts. it's all part of our series on "today's" first jobs. matt was a paper boy and we'll find out how meredith got started tomorrow on "today." coming up in this half hour, a possible copycat crime, two women in two different states

hads s acid thrown in their fac just days apart. it's a very tough story, we're going to hear from them in just a bit. >> you push back when you hair that. we're also going to be talking about another serious topic, it's caused a lot of people to send their email questions to us and it's about infertility. 7 million women struggle with infertility but it's a problem for many men. it can be physically and emotionally tough on a marriage. so this morning, dr. nancy snyderman is back to answer questions about your fertility, how to treat it and how to cope with it. >> plus we're going to tell you about the five ds of dieting, if you have to have that late-night piece of chocolate or handful of chips or you struggle with having a big appetite. there are five things that can curb those cravings and hopefully keep you satisfied. but first mr. roker is checking the weather for us.

>> we have wet weather in the northeast. hermine is causing a lot of wet weather down in texas, we have got wet weather also in the pacific northwest, sunny skies through much of california, tomorrow a few showers west of new york on into new england, heavy rain moves into oklahoma. the heat and some heat-based thunderstorms in southwest and we're looking at plenty of su and here's a live look at golden gate bridge. you can see those low coastal clouds hanging around. they are making their way inland and keeping things cool, bringing our temperatures down about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than it was yesterday. let's take a look at the 7-day forecast, it is going to be pretty cool along the coast. we are going to be in the 60s, not getting much above the mid-70s, another cooloff for tomorrow, drizzle along the coast, then bouncing back up to average seasonal temperatures by thursday. >> and that's your latest weather. coming up next, two women

and two separate acid attacks just days apart, now the victims are speaking out. we'll hear from them right after this. ♪ my name is elan, and i'm saving up to buy a new toyota corolla. >> it was that the corolla provides. i am a bookkeeper, and also a prep chef, so i need to be driving around from place to place. for the initial down payment, i'm six months out from when i get to go in and buy the corolla and get the keys. [ male announcer ] share your toyota story on facebook.com/toyota. what i wouldn't do for a do-over. [ female announcer ] new neutrogena® clinical skincare helps restore collagen depleted skin to undo the look of a year's worth of skin aging in just 4 weeks. clinical skincare. neutrogena®. with technology of the future. it's liquid-plumr foaming pipe snake. clears slow drains, cleans pipe walls.

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horrific acid attacks just days apart and despite all they have endured, the women who had acid tossed in their faces are speaking out now. >> jerri still bears the physical and emotional scars of a terrifying attack. last thursday, a woman approached the 41-year-old mom outside her mesa, arizona home and threw acid at her hitting part of her face and shoulder. >> at first i thought she threw a cup of water in my face, but it immediately started to just burn, i was on fire. >> reporter: that attack happened 1,300 miles and three days after bethany experienced somethi something eerily similar. he was in downtown vancouver, washington heading to get coffee when a woman, seen in this police sketch approached her holding a cup and said hey, pretty girl would you like to

drink this? she said no and that's when the woman threw acid in her face. >> i could hear it sizzling, once it hit me, i could also hear bubbling and sizzling in my skin. >> reporter: miraculously, neither woman was blinded. storro was saved by a pair of new sunglasses. investigators are looking into the possibility that velarde was singled out and that it could be the work of a copycat. >> this is nothing new, in the last ten years, just to my research, i found about 3,500 similar attacks around the world. >> reporter: hi profile acid attacks include former british model casey piper who was doused with acid in 2008 and ms. june, columbian beauty contestant maria fernando nunez. >> unfortunately, this is about as bad as it gets. >> reporter: dr. john sharp says the psychological recovery process can last from six months

to two years. >> with the conclusion of their healing process, they'll be able to get to the point where they can see that they have beauty, that it comes from within and their lives are no longer about this terrible trauma. >> a long and difficult journey for two women who have already showed remarkable strength surviving the unimaginable. coming up next, from the emotional strains to the physical ones, dr. nancy snyderman answers your questions about infertility. but first these messages.

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we're continuing our q & a from last week on the topic of infertility, a new survey reveals that for 55% of couples, dealing with infertility, this is a physically and emotionsly stressful time. back is our medical editor dr. nancy snyderman. let's go back over some of these stats from self-magazine. 53% of couples say the struggle to conceive has taken the fun and spontaneity out of their love lives. 71% say infertility makes them feel flawed. and 50% of men said infertility makes them feel less masculine. >> everybody you pass on the sidewalk seems pregnant, so when you want it so much, it seems that the rest of the world is

extraordinarily fertile and the fact that we would tie our grandest aspirations into how well we procreate, we may intu wit intellectually but when you want to be pregnant, you really, really want to be pregnant. >> you say there's signs that women may not be fertile? >> if you have problems with ovulation and you know your periods fluctuate, very important and a reason to check in with a doctor. if you don't ovulate at all, and for women who have eating disorders, remember if you have anorexia or bulimia, those are reasons to see an infertility specialist. but what trumps all of that is age. we talked about the biological clock. it is important for women to remember that the older you get the less your chance of getting pregnant and if you smoke cigarettes, that affects things too. so lifestyle makes a difference.

>> our first question is from skype from jennifer in utah. good morning, jennifer, what's our your question? >> my husband was recently diagnosed with a condition that results in a low sperm count. should we just give up hope and try to adopt? >> as a doctor i will never tell you to give up, but as a mother of an adopted child, that's a good route too. doctors look at the number of sperm in a microscope and deciding if there's enough to ovulate an egg and for men that's usually a sperm count of lower than 20 million, and it seems like already a lot. but those numbers matter and also the health of the sperm matter. so here are the things for your husband and for you to talk about and those are the simple lifestyle things, for instance, ann, things like cigarette smoking, drug use, exposure to

pesticides, even hot tub use where the testicles can be warmed too much and that can reduce the sperm count. those simple lifestyle things matter. soi so i would say to you jennifer, absolutely do not give up hope, but lifestyle matters and also see an infertility specialist. >> infertility specialists are having success in dealing with infertility? >> the third time a couple can't get pregnant, it has something to do with men, sometimes the sperm just isn't mobile enough but there is a lot of tricks now. and the lifestyle issues are important. >> nicole send us an e-mail, she wrote, i was on the birth control pill for three years, now have been off for three years. we have been trying to conceive for the past three years and still no pregnancy. i have irregular cycles, 28 to 43 days and i'm not sure what steps to take next. >> here's the one good things you should know and that is the

birth control pill has probably been the most studied medication in mankind. absolutely safe and the fact that she was on it has nothing to do with the fact that she's having irregular periods now, there's an estrogen-progesterin imbalance. at least get several months of hormone muzzles, make sure you're seeing the right specialist. there may be a way to stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs, but this is where you have to see someone who he or she knows what they're talking about. >> how do you decide on a specialist? >> here's where i tell people to do their home work, people who advertise for the number of pregnancies, they'll advertise for the number of live births. but we have seen many times that popping out the number of babies

is not the issue. you want to look for programs that have very specific criteria and very honest criteria for who they will help and the gold standard is one or two babies born healthy. i'm not a big believer in implanting five, six, seven embryos and having a multitude of little chicks because that does not necessarily mean healthy babies. so you have to really do your home work and look for the programs, university based most of the time and the best place to turn on the web is the american college of obstetrics and gynecology because they'll list the good ones. >> we have got a questioner on the phone, tena. she's in prosper, texas. hello, tena. >> i hi, i have had problems getting pregnant and i have also had five miscarriages. i was wondering if acupuncture can improve your chances of becoming and staying pregnant. >> this is probably one of the

coolest fields of infertility and i have a friend over at harvard who's looking into the mind-body connection in pregnancy. for years we said that stress has nothing to do with it and there was no connection between your lifestyle mentally and getting pregnant. but then of course we would hear anecdotes from women who would go on vacation and come back and say, guess what, i'm pregnant. now we're uncovering everything and acupuncture may have a role. we're connecting the mind-body connection in infertility and i suspect we'll find more and more clues as we go on. >> we want to wish tena luck and all the other men and women who want to have a family. >> and remember that adoption is a real option too. you can have a family with a couple you pop-out the old-fashioned way and an adopted one and have a really happy life.

>> shedding those pounds for

this morning on take it off today, the five ds of dieting, the things you crave can be the most difficult obstacles to weight loss. "today's" diet and nutrition expert madeleine morris. i think it would be easy to fall into that pitfall where all you do is think about food when you're dieting. so the five ds what are they kpkt exactly? >> first you want to delay your eating, you're going to distract yourself, you also want to distance yourself. determine and finally decide. now we'll discuss what these all mean. >> so delay means what? >> delay means this is the biggest step because you want to be a minefdful eater. you have that wave of i want to

eat something, delay that for ten or 15 minutes, it's acknowledging that you actually want to eat something, so you're putting that off, saying i just want to think about this. so that's a good first step. >> because we tend to be impulsive and go with our cravings. >> we get that wave of impulse and we have to have it right now. and that takes about three weeks to learn, but that's the hardest step, just defer that eating and delay it. >> a lot of times they say you're not hungry, you're thirsty, let's talk about distract, another tactic. >> while you're doing this, you don't want to say i'm going to sit in front of a clock for ten minutes and watch the minutes tick by. you want to distract yourself, and do something that does not involve eating, involving your hands, you can clean out a drawer, do a load of wash, walk around the clock, answer some e-mails, do something to just distract yourself and make you stop thinking about the food and sometimes that really works and that's enough. >> as we're dieting, a lot of

people do just that, they tend to become just to the point where they're obsessed with food. >> you're focusing all the time and you really have to distract yourself and force yourself to think about some other things. it is hard, if it were easy everybody would be thin. >> another important d strategy is distance. so food is always around us, especially here on this show. >> food is around 24/7, you have to distance yourself, mentally and physically. don't keep food on your shelves in the kitchen, don't be around food, don't use food shopping as an activity to salem look for low calorie things. just don't keep food around, out of sight, out of mind really works when it comes to food. keep that distance. >> and also determined. what do you mean by that? >> determined means start to think about a little several evaluation and self-i warns, why do you want to eat? are you hungry or are you thirsty? is it emotional hunger or physical hunger? when is the last time you ate or drank something? a good way to understand this is

to keep a food record, either online or write it down to see what are your eating patterns and why you want to eat. this about this so you can determine what it is you really need to act on. >> how do you determine the difference between emotional hunger and real food hunger? what are the real simple p toms and signs? >> they're really perceived as the same thing and we're really confused and that's when the food record comes in, you say when did i eat last? if it's over three hours, you're probably physically hungry. if you've eaten about 100, 150 calories and an hour later you want more food, a lot of times it's going to be emotional. . >> and the last d is decide. >> decide doesn't mean go foraging for food everywhere. decide what it is you want. you want to preplan and say do i want something salty or crunchy or sweet or creamy and smooth and think about portions,

whether you want sort of a full serving indulgens, whenever it is,able on what you really want to eat and don't deprive yours. don't pick something you think has to be healthy. >> great information. coming up with hoda and kathy lee, actress and best selling author jamie lee curtis is back with them and then back to school fashions for mom.

morning to you, just a couple minutes before 10:00. a little more known for growing grapes, but this time, talking jam, not wine. >> traffic as well.

going on right now. still 35 minutes off the altamonte pass, pass highway 84 the first cut through to get out of the backup there all morning, continues to be there. south bay 101 slow near the airport, rest of the routes, southbound, 101 another accident, marsh, third, highway 85 causes the problems, started by the earlier one south at third coming to you san mateo. a live look at the bay bridge shows the traffic getting a second burst right here just before the lowering of those tolls. cheaper now. >> yeah. and there are some clouds out there the clouds are going to continue from the coast and they are going to be heading inland, bringing along with it some cooler temperatures certainly from yesterday, 55 now in san francisco, 61, oakland, 60 in san jose, now we are going to have cooler temperatures throughout the day and possibly some drizzle tomorrow. things will really be cooling off, going to be down about 20 degrees from where we were just 24 hours ago but then going to warm back up before the weekend, back to chris with more news.

>> thank you very much, rita. san jose mayor's open government policy will be put to the test tomorrow. the mayor has a committee which will consider two "to overrule police on withholding records, according to the mercury news. one is from a man who said police were wrongly called to hi his home during a domestic dispute, the other from a man who want as well more records so he can clean up crime-plagued apartments. this is the same committee who ruled in move to release 911 tapes in the police shooting death of a mentally ill man. we will keep you posted. we know the identity of one of the plane crash victims in redwood city. 73-year-old william hein neki was kill wind a plane he was in went into a redwood shores lagoon yesterday. a man and another woman from the bay area were also killed in that plane crash. federal investigators expect to have an initial report on the crash released next week. more local news in a half hour. the "today" show returns in just about one minute. have a good morning. we will see you soon. [ female announcer ] we know jerry brown was mayor of oakland,

but what were the results? fact: brown promised to improve schools. but the drop out rate increased 50%, and the state had to take over the schools. fact: the city controller found employees paid for 22,000 hours... they never worked. fact: brown promised to cut crime. but murders doubled, making oakland the 4th most dangerous city in america. jerry brown. he just can't deliver the results california needs now.

from nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. hey, everybody, it's booze day. it's already september 7th. how can that be? >> i cannot believe it. is it summer? >> it was beautiful weather over the weekend, though. earl petered out on us. he should have been named peter, because he petered out. there was no earl. >> on the first day, deadsville. i think people thought earl was coming. >> i understand it. that's the last time these resort areas really make the,

you know -- >> well, they still made money, because there was a huge attraction along the beach. >> sorry i missed this. >> there's an annual drag queen volleyball contest. look at it. i came with my cram. >> wait a minute. >> you cannot believe the crowds. >> look at the group. there are a couple other shots. these are these women -- look at this one. you don't see the crowd because i was trying to get pictures of guys. >> there were a couple of things in the way. >> it is a huge, enormous crowd that comes out to cheer these guys on, and they're bouncing around and jiggling. >> i don't know what's going on with all of that. that one in particular in the pink was quite the standout. >> quite the standout. >> the kids and families are all -- that one was just picked off. >> all-mern healthy fun. sometimes it's very very family oriented and you go down a

little bit and it's that. >> gay pride week. >> i spent every summer there growing up as the kid. my mom and dad owned the inn and i spent saturdays cleaning up after people. >> they say kathie lee still lives here. i don't think she still does. they claim you there. >> that's sweet. they were doing the first jobs on the earlier jobs, and one of the my first jobs was dippings custard, koor's custard right there next to dolly's right over there. i got in trouble. >> what did you do? >> there were very cute surfers there visiting from pensacola, florida and they were hungry and didn't have much money. i was sort of -- i would give them ice cream. >> you're a generous sport. that was your first job. >> i helped my dad deliver "the

washington post" when i was quite little, and even before that we collected bottles and cans because it was a development where we lived. we were the 29th family to move be into the town and it was 1961 when we moved there. i made my first $50 collecting cans and bottles. >> didn't it feel good when you first made your first couple of bucks? >> it felt great because of the independence. my father would say now we're going to wash them. they were filthy because it was a construction site. you show respect for people. you don't turn in dirty bottles and cans. he taught me so much. >> my first job was delivered papers, my brother and i. "the washington post" is heavy because especially on sundays it weighs a ton. my mom would take the station wagon and drop them off on corners to pick them up as we went. it's a thankless job to deliver the paper.

people call your house and say i didn't get the dart drug ads. we would take our paper and give them the ads. someone took my sports section. by the time we were done, we had nothing. my dad was like i hate this job for you guys. we loved it -- people don't tip that well. after you deliver the paper every day in the rain, you go there -- >> they don't see you. >> they don't see you. >> that's the problem. it's not like your doorman you see all the time and someone you have a relationship with. >> exactly. >> whethn you think about those cold, cold winter days -- >> take care of them. there was music flowing downstairs today. >> i just listened to her cd. she's going to be with us tomorrow. >> she has this new cd called "kaleidoscope heart." she has a song called "king of anything." i think we have a clip from downstairs. ♪ while i like outside

♪ so many things i'd say if only i were able ♪ ♪ but i just keep quiet and count cars that pass by ♪ ♪ you got opinions and we're all entitled to them ♪ ♪ but i ain't never asked ♪ so let me thank you for your time ♪ >> i just love her. here's the chorus real quick. >> she does not need auto tone. >> she really doesn't. here's her chorus. you have to hear it. ♪ can't disagree ♪ you are not me >> she's with us tomorrow. >> the first time she came on with us, we went oh, my gosh. she's the real deal. >> we were dying. >> fantastic. >> we love her. >> we just have a lot of family over the weekend, and do we need to go over to sarah? is that what you're telling me? we have a little time?

isn't it nice i get to say something. we didn't go to nantucket. we ended up -- my brother and his one josh has four little red-headed girls and his other son jason has three boys and his daughter lindsay has one little girl. >> they were all at your house? >> most of them. and frank was at the grill doing what he does best. >> you have to hand it to him. >> went to see "the american," the new george clooney movie over the weekend. we went in on sunday afternoon. i thought, oh, my gosh, there was nobody -- i was surprised to see it won the box office for the weekend. unusual film. i read a lot of reviews, and one review was four stars and the next was one star. it's a little -- it's -- i can see why each person thought that about the film, and it's george clooney at his most -- what's

the word? coiled. >> coiled? >> very intense, very insulated. he's a terrific actor. >> he looked good in the ads, in the clips. he did look good when he was doing the pull-ups. >> he looked good. >> i didn't go to the movie but i watched the jersey house we'ves reunion last night because i fell asleep. don't watch them before you go to bed, because you have bad dreams. >> i don't ever watch it anyway. >> it was a two-parter. the thing that came out is that danielle staub will not be ruining. >> and apparently the "national enquirer" says i hate her guts. i don't hate anybody. i hate my size. that's t. people, i don't hate. i hate things, not people, all right? >> then they say that teresa may or may not come back, and another paper says she's upset because her sister-in-law might be in the show and she doesn't

like her sister-in-law. the jersey housewives will continue. andy cohen is waving the flag. >> i like andy. i just don't care for those kind of shows. >> they get on your nerves. >> we keep rewarding bad behavior. we really do, and it upsets me. i think there's a lot wrong with our culture. >> look at that. some people thought that was a phony thing and who knows. >> look at that. she looks thrilled. >> yeah. remember they were all here? >> yeah. i wish everybody well. i don't find this stuff entertaining. >> it gets on your nerves. the smoking baby, we told you about that 2-year-old from indonesia. well, we have good news to report this morning. the 2-year-old baby has quit smoking. >> he went to rehab. >> he went to rehab. he was smoking -- he went for 30 days. his mom put him in. >> 40 cigarettes a day, and his father gave him his first cigarette. there are no regulations in indonesia about in sort of

thing. i can't believe he didn't burn himself a bunch of times. >> 30% of indonesian children according to a report smokes their first cigarette before they're 10. what's going wo that action? >> a lot of them are dying with cancer is what's going on and a lot of bad parenting. that would have been an interesting reality series to see the little kid in rehab. now he's moved on to whiskey. update next year. >> let's see what sarah has. >> did you have a nice weekend? >> we saw "the american." my whole family went. there's nothing more awkward sitting next to your parents during a love scene. >> that was not a love scene. it was a sex scene. >> it was so bad. i wanted to share popcorn with my mom, so i'm next to her. very quickly i migrated over to my siblings. why? to sit next to mom and dad during that. >> yeah. you know what i did during it, sarah? i was sitting next to frank, and

our friends. i had a diet coke sitting there, and i just went and slurped on the diet coke. it was weird. >> was it weird? i have to see the movie now. >> at least you were with your husband. going with your kids or parents, not a good idea. >> maybe that's why i could watch it. memories. >> all right. coming up we have another lee in the house. >> we do. jamie lee curtis is here. she has a darling children's book, her ninth children's book. >> ak look at her. >> whe'suith ans, d she's with us, and the book is adorable. she's be right back. their bo. their brains are 75% water. their muscles are 73% water. their lungs are 80% water. want to grow a healthier, happier family?

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find details on specially marked boxes of cheerios. why cheerios? because whatever you love doing, you'll need a healthy heart to do it. ♪ the wuchl jamie lee curtis is known for her movie roles over the years. >> increasingly she has a new audience and younger one with her children's books, the newest, "my mommy hung the

moon." a love story. it's kind of fun to open "the new york times" and flip it over. >> they do that for you when your book comes out next month? >> nice. >> i was a little shocked. >> wow. >> no, no, no. >> these have sold so well. >> they know there's a lot -- >> we were talking about the horse race part of it, best seller. to me, the only thing that that's a marker for is that more people are reading it and more kids like it. >> you get to do the next one. >> it's not the other part i'm so interested in. i'm interested in the fact the audience is growing for books which actually have a subject. they're about something. >> they have a life past your own, which is a legacy. >> how did you get into the book-writing business? >> it's ridiculous. myle little girl is 4 years old. she walked into the room and said, mommy, when i was little i used to wear a diaper and now i don't.

she walked out of the room. i just remember i was like, what? i wrote down on a piece of paper when i was little a 4-year-old memoir of her youth. >> i love it. >> it made me laugh. and then i wrote a list of things, and by the end of it i knew it was a book because i was crying. >> this is your school friend who does your dair. >> no, no. laura cornell, genius. my illustrator, and i'm sure they'll put a picture up. my daughter's favorite book was -- that's not an illustration. before it wasn't an illustration. my daughter's favorite book was a book called "annie banany." laura was the illustrator. i went to harper collins, i said this is my book and she drew up. >> she's been your illustrator? >> nine books and 20 years later. zu dedicate the book to your

mom. i know a lot of people haven't heard you say much about your no, ma'am. >> my mom was an extraordinary woman, and, of course, i loved her with all my heart. she was this obviously bigger than life the way movie stars are. they don't really just belong to your family. they belong to the public. and my mother was from that generation where that public add do you lags was very much a part of her life. i talk openly about everything. honestly, i'm an open person, and i wouldn't be me, i wouldn't be successful at what i do when i tell the truth to people if i didn't tell the truth about my relationship with my mother, which was good and challenging, the way all relationships are. >> and complicated. >> and complicated. >> as all relationships are. >> you have a movie coming out. >> perfect late summer chick

flick, crazy. two generations -- two generations of high school nemesis are marrying into the same family. so -- >> the hilarity ensues. >> it does because betty white is around. anytime she walks into a room. >> she's your competition coming up. she has two books coming out herself. who does she think she is? >> really. >> you don't like her much anymore, do you? >> you know, she's not that funny. her eyes are blue, but that's -- >> that's really about it. >> i mean overrated would be a word for betty white. >> overexposed perhaps. >> oh, definitely. >> good luck with the movie, the book. >> it's adorable. >> thank you for stopping by. up next, we have a lot coming up. >> you guys are like sisters. >> it's gotten crazy. we don't know what's up t next. we'll talk nail polish.

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all right. it's time for the special series called "they get paid for that?" where we show you cool jobs. >> sarah haynes went behind the scenies with a famous nail polih company. >> if you've wondered how all those fun nail polishes get their names, you can wonder no more. did you radio edo your nails, m chihuahua bites, i'm not really a waitress. neither is the executive vp and artistic director or o.p.i. prush products. she gets paid to come up with names and colors you can't get out of your head but she has her work cut out for her. o.p.i. sells more than 40 million bottles of lacquer every

year, and all that paint starts here in this lab. after thinking up a color, she works with chemists to pinpoint the exact hue she's looking for. in this case, a color that's perfect for hoda. >> i said let me create a color for hoda that she and i will think of as a nice glass of red wine. >> there's an inspiration behind the color? >> absolutely. always. >> right moeon the money. >> that is gorgeous. >> and this is hoda, to you and i. a glass of wine. >> for kathie lee? >> i want to create a pink champagne color for kathie lee. i really want this to sparkle and have the feel of champagne. and then we'll put this on the mixer. >> oh, my goodness. that is so pretty. >> i'm liking this a lot. >> i like that one. >> i think we're good. >> you guys are good. >> i kind of knew in my head what i wanted to create, so it's

easy to kind of get what you want. >> they're happy, so now on to the names. representatives from o.p.i. marketing, design, purchasing, and even george shepherd, the president and ceo get in on the action. we have food and two special guests for inspiration. suzy moderates and everyone throws out names. >> hoda. >> i missed it today. >> hodalicious. >> hoda you think you are? >> did i mention my awards? >> when you get tired at the end of the day, so many appearances. >> one singular sensation. >> pour me another pink. >> it's a group effort. suzy makes the final decision. >> then i think hoda would be acme roots showing and the sparkle would be i live for

today. kathie lee and hoda, you were a great inspiration. thank you. a color job and a paycheck i'll drink to that. from the minds that brought you cosmo not tonight honey, i present my two favorite ladies with their own nail polish. kathie lee, you get i live for today. this is one. >> thank you. >> and this one, are my roots showing? >> i don't think they are. i'll dare of it. >> we have the two clores, hoda think you are and one singular sensation. that guy, george, the george, he had a crush on you. the ceo wants to take you out on a date. we have a picture. he kind of took your cardboard cutout. >> all right. here's to george. we'll be back. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops for their school. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat.

and these are the ones you'll love on a tuesday. pillsbury crescent dogs, with just a few ingredients, you have an easy to make dinner. they're crescents for the other 364. try them tonight. they're crescents for the other 364. as a mom i believe books brighten a child's future. so join the sunnyd book spree. when your child's class collects 20 labels... they get 20 free books! go to sunnyd.com and help us make classrooms sunnier. i'm home. toilet's fixed. [ male announcer ] of all the things that happen on your wooden surfaces, disinfecting has to be one of them. clorox disinfecting wipes. safe on wood. hard on germs. clorox disinfecting wipes.

♪ your favorites, in pieces. >> big slowing, top of the screen down to the bottom of the screen, carquinez the toll plaza itself, 29, just under half an hour for that drive. bait bridge toll plaza itself, the backup, steady, a few cars, construction going on in the parking lot that is the crane at

the bottom of the screen, but rhea, the gray skies, still just a little bit gray, not too bad at the toll plaza itself as well with. >> and the good news is that the clouds are, you know, lighting up just a little bit, the sun is breaking through, chilly out, 55, san fran, 66, oakland, 64, san jose, let's look at the 7-day forecast. things are a lot cooler today, 10 to 20 degrees, depending where you are living. tomorrow, even cooler. and going to have some drizzle in the afternoon, especially along the coast but then it will dnesday but bumping back up tobu average temperatures on thursday. more news after break.

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the whooping cough epidemic continues to spread throughout california and county health officials are trying to help. they want people to get vaccinated against the contagious disease and offering free clinics to make things easier there are eight times as many cases of whooping cough this time this year as this time last year. at least three infants have died in this epidemic. now to get vaccinated, san mateo county will offer a free clinic september 18th from 10 until 2. all you have to do is show up in room 100 had at the health administration building. a guy known as spire dan is facing misdemeanor charges this morning from going to the bottom of the top of the san francisco skyscraper from the outside. dan good win took three hours yesterday to climb the millennium tower in the city's south of market neighborhood. when he made it to the top, some firefighters helped him unfurl an american flag but just after that, police detained him for

causing a public nuisance and for trespassing. good win says he did to raise awareness for cancer and that sky scrapers are still vulnerable to terrorist attacks. thanks so much for joining us today. the "today" show continu p emo ow.seyoilghre tomo . we're back on this booze day with more of "today," and we're going to find the extra storage space in your bedroom you didn't know you had. >> did you ask yourself where the heck am i going to put that stuff, we have that answer. these are all terrific ideas. we can all apply them. >> they're inexpensive ones. instead of getting a regular headboard, one thing die is use bookcases as a red board. these are from hayneedle.com. they're stackable. you can put stuff up here you want people to say. >> they have tons of stuff here. they had the hammocks last time.

>> you always need bedside lighting. instead of doing a lamp that sits on your table. lift it up and mound it on the wall. you need a couple screws and mount it on the wall. >> that's a special lamp that does it. >> these are swing arm sconces from jcpenney. >> check this out. these linens from from function. they have pockets on the side. you don't lose the remote controls and you have everything you need. >> the glasses and books. that's very smart. >> yeah. i didn't invent it. i'm not taking credit for it. >> what it? >> under the bed is -- make use of the space. this is a shoe organizing center you can put right under the bed, and if you don't have enough space, use risers. >> that's great for off-season things you don't want jammed in your closet. >> they're rolls storage to put

your extra bed sheets and comforters. these are all from the container store. >> that's another good one. >> i like this, and yorn what's going on. >> it has some sort of storage bench. these are little storage ottoman cubes from peier 1. you put it in there so it looks pretty. >> i stuff things in places like that, and then i forget what's going on. >> that's the way she rolls. >> yeah. so you need to go through things every once in a while and clean it out. this is what i try to do. come on over to the other side, ladies. we have tons of jewelry. i know both of you do. >> this is a cool idea. >> this is a standing jewelry armoire from hay needle. it has plenty of space. tons for earrings, necklaces, rings. >> how much is that? >> about 189. >> that's a great piece.

>> it's not bad. >> tons of great stuff. >> they even have wall mounds ones which is great, so you don't need the rack. you put it right up on the waur. and it's your full-length mirror in the bedroom, which is great. >> that's smart. >> the top drawer, lots of people don't know what to do with it. what i like to do is get plastic organizers and organize my top drawer, because things get lost in here. i put my perfumes and socks and things like that. >> where do you put your underwear? >> that's none of your business. >> you do it in the second drawer? >> yvette doesn't wear underwear, all right? now you've done it, hoda. >> and then for bangles because i wear lots of them -- >> except for today. >> they clink too much. i was trying to do the right thing. don't throw away your paper towel holder. you can use this to store your bangles. >> these are all great ideas. what's going on down here?

>> there's not much going on down here. that's for color. sometimes uch stuff you want to store that's not attractive, so i just bought an extra set -- >> stop. what did you do? show us. >> get an extra set of pillowcases that match your bedding set, and then you can just use this to cover up space under your bedside tables. you can store boxes of yucky stuff. >> i've covered walls in sheets. >> how do you stick it up there? >> fun tack or upholstery tacks that look really sharp. >> these are great ideas and are affordable. >> you have been to my lungt hoe movie theater is done in ralph lauren sheets. >> i also store my gift boxes, tissue paper between the mattress. >> yvette, you are genius. >> thank you very much, sweetie.

up next, hidden reasons you may have put on just a few pounds this summer right after this. [ sighs ] ♪ [ inhales deeply ] ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] lighting a glade scented candle can change your whole day. [ clapping ] oh! [ both chuckle ] thank you. [ female announcer ] release the magic with limited-edition cashmere woods from glade. s.c. johnson. a family company. [ man ] ♪ today the world looks mighty fine ♪ [ women ] ♪ pop-tarts happy sunshine time! ♪ [ man ] ♪ grab a pop-tart and you might just start ♪ ♪ to sing songs like a meadow lark ♪ ♪ stretch and yawn ♪ blow a kiss to mom ♪ cause pop-tarts mornings are the bomb ♪

♪ so, rise and shiiiiine ♪ ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh [ mom ] walmart checks other stores' prices so we can save on all our game time favorites. aah! [ laughter ] [ dad ] what do you think of that, huh? [ mom ] and if there's a better price out there, they'll even match it. which means come game time, i'm just as ready as he is. go! go! yeah! [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. [ mom ] game time costs less at walmart. so, we set out to discover the nutritional science at purina one, we want your cat to be as healthy as possible in some of nature's best ingredients. that's how we created purina one with smartblend. nutritionally optimized with real salmon, wholesome grains and essential antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy,

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and to lactaid® milk. easy to digest and with all the calcium and vitamin d of regular milk. [ female announcer ] lactaid®. the original lactose-free milk. do you wonder why despite your best efforts you gain weight? the battle of the bulge could have to do with a subtle little habit or two that undermines your best efforts. >> registered dietitian elizabeth summer is here to figure out what it is your

doing, what those habits are and how you have stop them in their tracks. >> of course, none of us do any of these, right? often we lie to ourselves, don't we? >> dishonesty is huge. people underestimate their calories by up to 800 calories a day. >> how many pounds in a year? >> boy, hundreds. i don't know. sometimes it's intentional. we just casually forget the candy bar we had mid-afternoon, but a lot of times it's unintentional. we don't know how big the servings are. get out the scale and measure your stuff. a serving of meat should be three ounces, size of a deck of cards. a cup of pasta is two servings. if that's too much, look for foods preportioned for you so you don't have to think about it. the three blueberries in a muffin, is not a serve, but berries are important for weight loss and brain and health and everything else.

get a clamshell of driscoll blueberries, and put it in your briefcase or purse. you have a serves right there. salads at restaurants, they take diet food and turn it into a diet disaster. get dole salad kits that portion it out for you. when you get meat at grocery store, have the butcher cut it into 4-ounce serving so you have it served up and ready to go. >> weight watchers say scribble what your nibble. if you write it down, then you have to see what it looks like. every little thing you put in your mouth. >> that's our next one, which is mindless eating. >> of course it is. >> so tell us about mindless eating. >> every bite you put into your mouth averaging 25 calories, whether it's taking a spoonful of apple pie. >> i had one peanut, that was 25 calories? >> a little small handful popped in your mouth. mashed potatoes while cooking dinner. loading the disher and you pop

bread crust in your mouth, you can gain a pound in a month. >> i did it making potato salad. every time i went by, i took a spoonful. >> here's what i do. sue me. when there's a -- when you shave off a piece of the brownie and a little more and then a little more and by the time the night is over, what happened? i did little by little, and it's gone. >> as long as you don't eat the whole brownie, there's no calories at all. that's why you write it down. if you write it down, you'll be brutally aware of that. >> whether we eat healthy we think we can eat as much as wement. >> when people were told food was healthy, they ate more. when you tell somebody a food is low fat even if it's not, they'll eat twice as much. this is where you have to kick in your higher brain centers. because it looks healthy, which none of these foods are, but i dare you to eat as many colorful fruits and vegetables.

no one gained weight on tomatoes and carrots. >> fruit on the bottom has so many calories. >> there's 7 to 9 teaspoons of sugar in some ofhe yogurts. >> i like these peanuts. >> i'm counting. >> the next one is getting married, because you lie, complete and steal to get into the wedding dress. one the wedding bells are tolled, you don't care anymore. you give up your diet independence because you live with a guy that he's buffalo wings and you used to eat salad maybe or you're at a restaurant picking off of his plate. >> what should do you? >> well, at home you can serve up food, keep the bowls in the kitchen so you're not as likely to overeat. maybe make a deal with your husband where you find traditions that are not food-related. instead of eating pizza on a friday night, you read books to each other or play golf. >> come on. >> what would frank say?

>> she does make you want a carrot. look at this. >> don't go there. >> let's get to the drinking section. >> liquid calories don't register on our appetite. they don't fill us up, a long island iced tea has the calorie equivalent of a platter of onion rings. >> soda pop, we call it the new tobacco. even one a week is enough to increase your risk for being overweight. just be careful. you can still have soda pop once a week. >> i love wine. >> i love wine. >> who is she talking to? >> i do. you actually indulge once in a while? >> of course. can dissolve your resolve. it's like to heck with the diet, i'll have the buffalo wings. you can have all the driscoll bore berries you want. drink with meals.

you're less likely to overindulge. >> you always give us bad news. >> you're so nice to me. >> i know. what's with that? coming up next, making over the mom so you can run your kids to the bus stop in style. >> you don't want to embarrass the little nose-pickers. is a customized pro-v system that, in test, outlasts the flop to make volume that lasts long past 4 o'clock. pantene. healthy makes it happen. the pantene re-invention is here. introducing the new pantene custom solutions. with options for your unique hair structure. fine, thick, curly or color. to make the hair you love last and last. put it to the test. find your new pantene. hey, little dude. "dinner's" my middle name. how 'bout some hamburger helper? oh, my, but your mouth is gonna love it. and your wallet's gonna be pretty happy, too. now this is the deal of the day. hamburger helper...one pound, one pan, one tasty meal.

fortunately, there's senokot-s tablets. senokot-s for occasional constipation associated with certain medications. find the relief that's right for you and get a $10 rebate at getconstipationrelief.com. [ female announcer ] 100% baby-smooth perfection has arrived. introducing dream smooth mousse foundation from maybelline new york. it's cream whipped for a 100% baby-smooth look. [ woman ] show me. [ female announcer ] some makeups just cover and leave skin rough, dry. dream smooth hydrates for 14 hours. so skin looks flawless, stays touchably smooth. [ woman ] just like a baby. [ female announcer ] it's ultimate perfection. 100% baby-smooth. new dream smooth mousse. [ woman ] maybe she's born with it. [ female announcer ] maybe it's maybelline. that answers the big questions...

about cinnamon toast crunch. like, am i gonna bliss out over this? spoiler alert: yes, i will! mmm! mmm! [ gasps ] i'm ok!

time for "today's style" and ways to update your back-to-school wardrobe. >> did doesn't mean your wardrobe shouldn't get a fall refresher. she's the mother of that darling baby in the background, and she's the author of "the bra book." >> happy birthday to her little one. >> happy birthday. >> this is going to be a fun segment, because a lot of moms heading to the bus stop and that kind of thing end up throwing on sweats and make a mad dash to pick up the child. >> we all do it. it's easy and comfortable. you can have stylish clothes that are just as comfortable. >> are you sure?

>> i spend 90% of my time covered in spit-up and pee. i'm like every other mom out there. >> here's the before picture. yoko got up and threw up on the baggy t-shirt with worn out jeans. this is her before outfit. >> yes. this is her before. look at her now. >> let's see what we have going on. >> i'm sorry. hello, yoko. tell us about the outfit. >> we gave her her entire outfit from jcpenney. skinny jeans look fabulous on her. she said they're so wonderful. nicole miller for jcpenney. she doesn't need accessory because the print is an accessory and a blazer is a must have. everything she's wearing is under $50 except for the bag. we gave her a little homage to her before outfit in her bag. she can throw lots of stuff in it, too.

you don't have to be matchy matchy. she looks great. >> thank you, yoko. >> the next mom is jennifer, and her is her before look which a lot have. you throw out sweats and a big t-shirt and throw your hair back in a ponytail and you're good to go. >> that's how i come into the studio. >> jennifer, come on out. >> we kept her in her pony tail and dressed it up a little. she has an outfit from torrid. i faux fur vest is a huge trend under $30. it's like a bargain, and some nice flare jeans and the yellow python butler bag with compartments in it. it's $50 from qvc. she has her pony fail and earrings she likes to wear. >> you have to be comfy, but it's funny how quickly you can dress something up. the vest does it all. she doesn't need anything else. >> you have to get past the age whether your kid is so little. >> she has four kids and she's a

new mom, too. she has lots of little ones. >> thank you very much. >> this is her before picture. what's she got going on, pajama pants. >> andt-shirt. we gave her leggings. >> that looks very nice. >> they're just as comfy. you can throw them on easy. these are from new york & company. we gave her an old navy poncho. >> i love old navy. >> it's so affordable. the sunglasses are just so she doesn't need makeup. she has shades on. >> sidney has the matching leggings on, too. that's a cute idea and xomcomfy. >> very cute. the final model is sarah. >> that's what everybody wearing is the hoodie. >> and the knit yoga pants. >> i think that's kind of cute. >> she looks great.

they all look great, but we're updating them a little bit. >> sarah, come on out. >> cease she's in a knit dress la land's end. this is comfy. >> what have i done? >> he's mad at you. >> he's giving me the evil eye. >> she's in a cowl neck knit top from land's end. we add the belt and the bag and the boots are payless. >> $30. >> they're adorable. >> it's just as easy. she's so comfortable in it. just as easy as the yoga pants. are you comfy. do you feel good? >> yeah. >> she's a new mom as well with a 4-month-old. >> this time exactly last year you were giving birth today. >> i'd much rather be here with you ladies, as much as i love her. >> the grandma looks like your sister. >> she does. >> she'll be so happy you said

that. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. we'll be back with more of "today" on nbc. [ male announcer ] when meg whitman arrived at ebay,

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let's go over to the doll, s sarah hairnz. >> one man agrees with the ceo. hoda is beautiful and any man would be lucky to sat cross from her at dinner staring into her eyes looking at her gorgeous eyes. >> a lot of people like the colors. they are not for sale and they were done for you guys. we're going to give ten away at our website at random. click on the website, and you'll see a tag and enter your information and we'll pick at random. >> you're so on the ball over there. >> nobody does it better. all right, doll. thank you. tomorrow sarah barelis here.

you'll love the cd. plus the wackiest fitness gadgets you might love. have a great day, everybody. go out there and make it a really fine booze day, all right? really fine booze day, all right? >> you do that. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com